Toilet ventilation systems and methods

ABSTRACT

The present invention generally relates to a ventilation system for a toilet to discharge odorous air from a toilet cavity of the toilet through an exit before the odorous air escapes from the toilet cavity. More particularly, the present invention relates to a toilet ventilation system for collecting the odorous air from the toilet cavity, transporting such through air pathways thereof, and discharging such to the exit. The present invention also relates to a toilet ventilation system for collecting the odorous air from the toilet cavity, removing at least a portion of odorous substances contained therein, and returning or recirculating a substantially odor-free air into a space in which the toilet is placed. Such a ventilation system of the present invention may be incorporated into various toilets in various embodiments such that, e.g., at least a portion or an entire portion of such a ventilation system may be embedded into the toilet or its parts, movably coupled to the toilet or its parts, detachably coupled to the toilets or its parts, or fixedly coupled to the toilet or its parts. Accordingly, the ventilation system of the present invention may be incorporated into a new toilet during its manufacture and/or may be arranged to be retrofit into an existing toilet. In addition, the toilet ventilation system of this invention may be arranged to ventilate a single toilet or to ventilate multiple toilets.

The present application claims a benefit of a Disclosure Document No. 503,107, entitled “Toilet Ventilation System” and filed on Jan. 3, 2002, an entire portion of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a ventilation system for a toilet to discharge odorous air from a toilet cavity of the toilet through an exit before the odorous air escapes from the toilet cavity. More particularly, the present invention relates to a toilet ventilation system for collecting the odorous air from the toilet cavity, transporting such through air pathways thereof, and discharging such to the exit. The present invention also relates to a toilet ventilation system for collecting the odorous air from the toilet cavity, removing at least a portion of odorous substances contained therein, and returning or recirculating a substantially odor-free air into a space in which the toilet is placed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Conventional toilets are manufactured by assembling various movable toilet parts with various stationary toilet parts. Exemplary stationary toilet parts include a toilet base and a water reservoir and exemplary movable toilet parts include a toilet seat and toilet lid. The toilet base generally forms a toilet cavity which is filled with water, collects human wastes giving off odorous air, and flushes them with additional water supplied by the water reservoir or by an external water source.

Conventional toilets are typically located in small enclosed bathrooms which are susceptible to be easily filled with odorous air each time the toilets are used. Various human wastes collected in the toilet cavity include substances giving off odorous air which may escape therefrom to contaminate the bathroom air. Various ventilation fans are positioned in the ceiling of the bathrooms above the toilet to draw off the odorous air from the bathrooms. However, the ceiling ventilation fans are not particularly effective primarily because they are not located close enough to a source of the odorous air, i.e., the toilet cavity. Accordingly, it usually takes a substantial amount of time, if at all, to remove the odorous air from the bathroom.

Various forced ventilation systems have been proposed so as to remove the odorous air from the toilet cavity before it escapes therefrom into atmosphere. However, these prior art systems have not yet found commercial use due to a few major defects. First of all, the prior art systems generally include at least a few components which must be installed not on the toilet but at distances therefrom. Such components generally make the bathroom crowded, diminish aesthetics of the toilet, and turn a cleaning of the toilet into a difficult task. More importantly, most prior art systems employ air tubing for connecting an air inlet disposed at the toilet seat to an air pump. Because of the space concern, such air tubing is typically made to be flexible and to have a smaller dimension than other components of the ventilation system, thereby incurring substantial hydraulic resistance therethrough. Increasing such a dimension of the air tubing in these ventilation systems is generally not a practical option because the thicker air tubing would require more installation space. Due to such substantial hydraulic resistance, conventional ventilation system generally requires high-capacity pumps capable of creating pressure gradients enough to take in the odorous air from the toilet cavity after a substantial loss of mechanical energy through viscous dissipation. Such high-capacity pumps not only consume more electricity but also generate noise enough to bother bathroom users.

Accordingly, there is a need for a ventilation system capable of discharging air from the toilet cavity while effectively removing the odorous air from the toilet cavity before the odorous air escapes out of the toilet cavity and contaminates the atmosphere surrounding the toilet.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a ventilation system for a toilet to discharge odorous air from a toilet cavity of the toilet through an exit before the odorous air escapes from the toilet cavity. More particularly, the present invention relates to a toilet ventilation system for collecting the odorous air from the toilet cavity, transporting such through air pathways thereof, and discharging such to the exit. The present invention also relates to a toilet ventilation system for collecting the odorous air from the toilet cavity, removing at least a portion of odorous substances contained therein, and returning or recirculating a substantially odor-free air into a space in which the toilet is placed. Such a ventilation system of the present invention may be incorporated into various toilets in various embodiments such that, e.g., at least a portion or an entire portion of such a ventilation system may be embedded into the toilet or its parts, movably coupled to the toilet or its parts, detachably coupled to the toilets or its parts, or fixedly coupled to the toilet or its parts. Accordingly, the ventilation system of the present invention may be incorporated into a new toilet during its manufacture and/or may be arranged to be retrofit into an existing toilet. In addition, the toilet ventilation system of this invention may be arranged to ventilate a single toilet or to ventilate multiple toilets. The present invention further relates to various methods of making such toilet ventilation systems and utilizing such systems for removing the odorous air from the toilet cavity and/or for removing the odorous substances therefrom. In addition, the present invention relates to various processes of making such toilet ventilation systems.

In one aspect of the present invention, a ventilation system is provided for a toilet which has at least one stationary part and at least one movable part, where the stationary part may include a toilet base and/or a water reservoir, while the movable part may include at least one of a toilet seat and/or a toilet lid and be arranged to be movably coupled to at least a portion of the stationary part. The toilet base is arranged to define a toilet cavity therein, and the toilet seat is movably disposed over the toilet base and arranged to define a center aperture therein. The ventilation system is arranged to pump air from the toilet cavity to an exit for odorous air in the toilet cavity and may include at least one airway member and at least one pump member. The airway member includes at least one inlet unit as well as at least one outlet unit, where the inlet unit is arranged to define at least one inlet opening which is in fluid communication with the toilet cavity, while the outlet unit is arranged to define at least one outlet opening which is in fluid communication with the exit. The pump member is arranged to be operatively coupled to the airway member and to pump air inside the toilet cavity from the inlet opening to the exit. In one exemplary embodiment, the airway and pump members are embedded into, movably coupled to, detachably coupled to, and/or fixedly coupled to at least on of such stationary parts of the toilet. In another exemplary embodiment, the airway and pump members are embedded into, movably coupled to, detachably coupled to, and/or fixedly coupled to at least one of such movable parts of the toilet. In another exemplary embodiment, the airway and pump members are embedded into, movably coupled to, detachably coupled to, and/or fixedly coupled to the toilet seat and arranged to move therewith. In another exemplary embodiment, the airway and pump members are embedded into, movably coupled to, detachably coupled to, and/or fixedly coupled to the toilet lid and arranged to move therewith. In another exemplary embodiment, at least one portion of the airway member is embedded into, movably coupled to, detachably coupled to, and/or fixedly coupled to the toilet seat, and at least another portion of the airway member is embedded into, movably coupled to, fixedly coupled to, and/or detachably coupled to the toilet lid, toilet base, and/or water reservoir. In this embodiment, the pump member may be embedded into, fixedly coupled to, movably coupled to, and detachably coupled to at least one of the movable and/or stationary parts of the toilet. In another exemplary embodiment, the inlet unit of the airway member is embedded into, fixedly coupled to, detachably coupled to, and/or movably coupled to the toilet seat, while the outlet unit thereof is embedded into, fixedly coupled to, detachably coupled to, and/or movably coupled to the toilet lid, toilet base, and/or water reservoir. In this embodiment, the pump member is embedded into, fixedly coupled to, movably coupled to, and/or detachably coupled to at least one of the movable and/or stationary parts of the toilet.

Embodiments of this aspect of the invention may include one or more of the following features.

The inlet and outlet openings may be arranged to be in fluid communication when the toilet seat and/or lid is disposed in a preset range of positions and arranged not to be in the fluid communication when the toilet seat and/or lid is not disposed in the preset range of the positions. The inlet and outlet openings may also be arranged to be in fluid communication when the toilet seat and lid (or toilet seat and base) are disposed to form a preset range of angles therebetween and then not to be in the fluid communication when the toilet seat and lid (or toilet seat and base) are not placed in the preset range of the angles. The inlet and outlet openings may be arranged to always form the fluid communication.

The pump member may disposed on a movable article of a bathroom or on a stationary article of the bathroom. The pump member may be arranged to operatively couple with the airway member and to begin and terminate its pumping operation according to, e.g., an angle formed between the toilet lid and seat, an angle formed between the toilet seat and base, and a relative position of the toilet seat (or lid) with respect to the toilet lid (or seat), toilet base, and water reservoir. The pump member may be arranged to generate a negative pressure throughout the airway member. Alternatively, the pump member may be arranged to generate a negative pressure in one portion of the airway member and a positive pressure in another portion of the airway member.

The inlet and outlet openings of the airway member may be in fluid communication, e.g., when an angle formed between the toilet lid and toilet seat is within a preset range, when an angle formed between the toilet seat and toilet base is within another preset range, and when a relative position of the toilet seat (or lid) to the toilet lid (or seat), toilet base, and water reservoir falls within yet another preset range. Similarly, the inlet and outlet openings may not be in the fluid communication when such angles and/or position may not fall within the above ranges. At least a portion of the airway member may be arranged to be made of deformable materials and to collapse in response to an external force applied thereto to block at least a portion of air flow therethrough. Alternatively, at least a portion of the airway member may be arranged to be made of deformable materials and to collapse and block at least a portion of air flow therethrough, e.g., when an angle formed between the toilet seat and toilet lid is within a preset range, when an angle formed between the toilet seat and base is within another preset range, when a position of the toilet seat (or lid) relative to the toilet lid (or seat), toilet base, and water reservoir falls within yet another preset range, and so on.

The ventilation system may include at least one coupling member which is arranged to couple the inlet and outlet units of the airway member and to provide and/or to disrupt a fluid communication therebetween. The coupling member may include multiple coupler units which are arranged to provide the fluid communication between the inlet and outlet openings, e.g., when an angle formed between the toilet lid and seat is within a preset range, when another angle formed between the toilet seat and base is within another preset range, when a position of the toilet seat (or lid) with respect to the toilet lid (or seat), toilet base, and water reservoir falls within yet another preset range, and the like. Such coupler units may be arranged to disrupt the fluid communication between the inlet and outlet openings when such angles and/or position may not fall within such ranges. The ventilation system may further have various auxiliary members incorporated into the toilet with the airway and/or coupling members. A single pump member may be arranged to operatively couple with more than two airway members each of which may be coupled to a different toilet and to provide ventilation to more than two toilets.

Different parts of the airway member excluding the inlet and outlet openings may be arranged to have similar cross-sectional areas. Different parts of the airway member excluding such inlet and outlet openings may be arranged to have similar cross-sectional shapes. Alternatively, different parts of the airway member except the inlet and outlet openings may be arranged to have similar hydraulic or pneumatic resistances to air flow therethrough. Alternatively, different parts of the airway member excluding the inlet and outlet openings may also be arranged to have resistances to air flow less than a preset maximum value.

In another aspect of the present invention, a ventilation system is provided for the toilet similar to the foregoing one and includes at least one airway member and at least one pump member. In one exemplary embodiment, the airway member may include at least one inlet unit, at least one outlet unit, and at least one channel unit. The inlet unit is arranged to define at least one inlet opening which is in fluid communication with the toilet cavity, while the outlet unit is arranged to define at least one outlet opening which is in fluid communication with the exit. In addition, the channel unit is arranged to be disposed between the inlet and outlet units, to move between at least one on-position and at least one off-position, and to provide a fluid communication between the inlet and outlet units in the on-position and to disrupt at least a portion of such a fluid communication in the off-position. The pump member is arranged to be operatively coupled to the airway member and to pump air inside the toilet cavity from the inlet opening to the exit through the airway member. In another exemplary embodiment, the airway member may include at least one inlet unit, at least one outlet unit, and multiple channel units. The inlet unit may define at least one inlet opening which is arranged to be in fluid communication with the toilet cavity, while the outlet unit may define at least one outlet opening in fluid communication with the exit. The channel units are arranged to be movably disposed between the inlet and outlet units and to form a varying angle therebetween. In particular, the channel units provide a fluid communication between the inlet and outlet units when the angle is within a preset range of angles such as, e.g., between 60 and 180 degrees, 70 and 150 degrees, and 80 and 120 degrees, and then to disrupt at least a portion of such a fluid communication between the inlet and outlet units when the angle may not be within the range. The pump member is arranged to be operatively coupled to the airway member and to pump air inside the toilet cavity from the inlet opening to the exit through the airway member.

Embodiments of this aspect of the invention may include one or more of the following features.

The foregoing airway member may be embedded into, fixedly coupled to, movably coupled to, and/or detachably coupled to a part or multiple parts of the toilet such as, e.g., the toilet seat, toilet lid, toilet base, and/or water reservoir. When desirable, at least a portion of the airway member may also be similarly coupled to a floor, a wall, and/or a fixture inside or outside of a bathroom. Alternatively, a first portion of the airway member may also be embedded into, fixedly coupled to, movably coupled to, and/or detachably coupled to the toilet seat, whereas a second portion of the airway member may be embedded into, fixedly coupled to, movably coupled to, and/or detachably coupled to the toilet lid. At least a portion of the airway member may be arranged to be made of or include deformable materials and to collapse in response to an external force applied thereto so as to block at least a portion of air flow therethrough. Alternatively, at least a portion of the airway member may be arranged to be made of or include deformable materials and to collapse and block at least a portion of air flow therethrough when an angle formed between the toilet lid and seat is within a preset range, when an angle formed between the toilet seat and base is within another preset range, when a position of the toilet seat (or lid) with respect to the toilet lid (or seat), toilet base, and water reservoir falls within a preset range.

The pump member may also be embedded into, fixedly coupled to, movably coupled to, and/or detachably coupled to a part or multiple parts of the toilet such as, e.g., the toilet seat, the toilet lid, the toilet base, and/or the water reservoir. When desirable, at least a portion of the pump member may be similarly coupled to a floor, a wall, and/or a fixture inside or outside of a bathroom. The pump member may be arranged to operatively couple with the airway member and to begin and terminate its pumping operation according to, e.g., an angle formed between the toilet lid and seat, an angle formed between the toilet seat and base, and/or a position of the toilet seat with respect to the toilet lid, toilet base, and water reservoir. The pump member may be arranged to generate a negative pressure throughout an entire or at least a substantial portion of the airway member. In the alternative, the pump member may generate a negative pressure in one portion of the airway member and a positive pressure in another portion of the airway member.

The inlet and outlet units may be arranged to be in fluid communication through the channel unit or units when the toilet seat and/or lid may be disposed in a preset range of positions, and not to be in such a fluid communication through the channel unit or units when the toilet seat and/or lid may not be disposed in the preset range of the positions. Alternatively, the inlet and outlet units may be arranged to be in fluid communication through the channel unit or units when the toilet seat and toilet lid, the toilet seat and toilet base, and/or the toilet seat and toilet base may be disposed to form a preset range of angles, and not to be in the fluid communication through the channel unit or units when the toilet seat and lid, toilet seat and base, and/or toilet seat and base may not be disposed in the preset range of the angles.

The ventilation system may include at least one coupling member which is arranged to couple the inlet unit with the channel unit, the outlet unit with the channel unit, and/or two channel units of the airway member and to provide and disrupt a fluid communication therebetween. The inlet and outlet units may be arranged to be in fluid communication through the coupling member, e.g., when an angle formed between the toilet lid and seat is within a preset range, when another angle formed between the toilet seat and base is within another preset range, when a position of the toilet seat (or lid) with respect to the toilet lid (or seat), toilet base, and/or water reservoir falls within another preset range, and the like. The inlet and outlet units may not be in the fluid communication when such angles and/or position may not be within the above ranges. The coupling member may include multiple coupler units which are arranged to provide the fluid communication between the inlet and outlet units, e.g., when an angle formed between the toilet lid and seat is within a preset range, when another angle formed between the toilet seat and base is within another preset range, when a position of the toilet seat (or lid) with respect to the toilet lid (or seat), toilet base, and water reservoir is within yet another preset range, and the like. Such coupler units may be arranged to disrupt the fluid communication between the inlet and outlet units when such an angle and/or position may not fall within such a range. The ventilation system may also have various auxiliary members which is incorporated into the toilet with the airway and/or coupling members. A single pump member may be arranged to operatively couple with more than two airway members each of which may be coupled to a different toilet and to provide ventilation to more than two toilets.

Different parts of the airway member excluding the inlet and outlet openings may be arranged to have similar cross-sectional areas. Different parts of the airway member excluding such inlet and outlet openings may be arranged to have similar cross-sectional shapes. Alternatively, different parts of the airway member except the inlet and outlet openings may be arranged to have similar hydraulic or pneumatic resistances to air flow therethrough. Alternatively, different parts of the airway member excluding the inlet and outlet openings may also be arranged to have resistances to air flow less than a preset maximum value.

In another aspect of the present invention, a ventilation system is provided for a toilet including at least one stationary part and at least one movable part, where the stationary part has a toilet base and/or a water reservoir, while the movable part includes a toilet seat and/or a toilet lid which may be arranged to be movably coupled to at least a portion of the stationary part. The toilet base is arranged to define a toilet cavity therein. The toilet seat is movably disposed over the toilet base and arranged to define a center aperture therein. The ventilation system is arranged to transport air from the toilet cavity to an exit for odorous air in the toilet cavity and arranged to minimize a resistance to flow of air therealong. Such a ventilation system may include at least one airway member and at least one pump member. The airway member may include at least one inlet unit and at least one outlet unit, where the inlet unit is arranged to have at least one inlet opening in fluid communication with the toilet cavity and where the outlet unit is arranged to define at least one outlet opening in fluid communication with the exit. The pump member is arranged to be operatively coupled to the airway member and to transport or pump air inside the toilet cavity from the inlet opening to the exit. In one exemplary embodiment, the airway and pump members may be embedded into, movably coupled to, detachably coupled to, and/or fixedly coupled to at least one of the stationary and movable parts of the toilet. Different parts of such an airway member excluding the inlet and outlet openings are arranged to have similar cross-sectional areas therealong in order to minimize expansions and/or contractions of the cross-sectional areas, to minimize a pressure loss caused thereby, and to minimize the resistance to air flow of such an airway member. In another exemplary embodiment, the airway and/or pump members may be embedded into, movably coupled to, detachably coupled to, and/or fixedly coupled to at least one of the stationary and movable parts of the toilet. Different parts of the airway member except the inlet and outlet openings are arranged to have similar cross-sectional shapes therealong so as to minimize expansions and/or contractions of the cross-sectional shapes, to minimize a pressure loss caused thereby and, thus, to minimize the resistance to air flow along the airway member. In another exemplary embodiment, the airway and/or pump member may also be embedded into, movably coupled to, detachably coupled to, and/or fixedly coupled to at least one of the stationary and movable parts of the toilet. Different parts of the airway member excluding the inlet and outlet openings may further be arranged to have similar resistances to air flow therealong by manipulating, e.g., their shapes, sizes, arrangements, and so on. In another exemplary embodiment, the airway and/or pump members may be embedded into, movably coupled to, detachably coupled to, and/or fixedly coupled to at least one of the stationary and movable parts of the toilet. Different parts of the airway member excluding the inlet and outlet openings may be arranged to have resistances to air flow therealong less than a preset maximum value which may be determined as, e.g., the resistance consuming a preset percentage of mechanical energy generated by the pump member operating at a preset level, capacity or rpm.

Embodiments of this aspect of the invention may include one or more of the following features.

The inlet and outlet openings may be arranged to be in fluid communication when the toilet seat and/or lid is disposed in a preset range of positions and arranged not to be in the fluid communication when the toilet seat and/or lid is not disposed in the preset range of the positions. The inlet and outlet openings may also be arranged to be in fluid communication when the toilet seat and lid (or toilet seat and base) are disposed to form a preset range of angles therebetween, when a position of the toilet seat (or lid) with respect to the toilet lid (or seat), toilet base, and/or water reservoir fall within another preset range, and the like. The inlet and outlet openings may not to be in the fluid communication when the toilet seat and lid (or toilet seat and base) may not be disposed in the preset range of the angles. The inlet and outlet openings may be arranged to always form the fluid communication.

The foregoing airway member may be embedded into, fixedly coupled to, movably coupled to, and/or detachably coupled to a part or multiple parts of the toilet such as, e.g., the toilet seat, toilet lid, toilet base, and/or water reservoir. When desirable, at least a portion of the airway member may also be similarly coupled to a floor, a wall, and/or a fixture inside or outside of a bathroom. Alternatively, a first portion of the airway member may also be embedded into, fixedly coupled to, movably coupled to, and/or detachably coupled to the toilet seat, whereas a second portion of the airway member may be embedded into, fixedly coupled to, movably coupled to, and/or detachably coupled to the toilet lid. At least a portion of the airway member may be arranged to be made of or include deformable materials and to collapse in response to an external force applied thereto so as to block at least a portion of air flow therethrough. Alternatively, at least a portion of the airway member may be arranged to be made of or include deformable materials and to collapse and block at least a portion of air flow therethrough when an angle formed between the toilet lid and seat is within a preset range, when an angle formed between the toilet seat and base is within another preset range, when a position of the toilet seat (or lid) with respect to the toilet lid (or seat), toilet base, and water reservoir falls within a preset range.

The pump member may also be embedded into, fixedly coupled to, movably coupled to, and/or detachably coupled to a part or multiple parts of the toilet such as, e.g., the toilet seat, the toilet lid, the toilet base, and/or the water reservoir. When desirable, at least a portion of the pump member may be similarly coupled to a floor, a wall, and/or a fixture inside or outside of a bathroom. The pump member may be arranged to operatively couple with the airway member and to begin and terminate its pumping operation according to, e.g., an angle formed between the toilet lid and seat, an angle formed between the toilet seat and base, and/or a position of the toilet seat with respect to the toilet lid, toilet base, and water reservoir. The pump member may be arranged to generate a negative pressure throughout an entire or at least a substantial portion of the airway member. In the alternative, the pump member may generate a negative pressure in one portion of the airway member and a positive pressure in another portion of the airway member.

The ventilation system may include at least one coupling member which is arranged to couple the inlet unit and the outlet unit of the airway member and to provide and disrupt a fluid communication therebetween. The inlet and outlet units may be arranged to be in fluid communication through such a coupling member, e.g., when an angle formed between the toilet lid and seat is within a preset range, when another angle formed between the toilet seat and base is within another preset range, when a position of the toilet seat (or lid) relative to the toilet lid (or seat), toilet base, and/or water reservoir is within a preset range, and the like. The inlet and outlet units may not be in such a fluid communication when such angles and/or position may not be within the above ranges. Such a coupling member may include multiple coupler units which are arranged to provide the fluid communication between the inlet and outlet units and/or openings, e.g., when an angle formed between the toilet lid and seat is within a preset range, when another angle formed between the toilet seat and base is within another preset range, when a position of the toilet seat (or lid) with respect to the toilet lid (or seat), toilet base, and water reservoir is within yet another preset range, and the like. Such coupler units may be arranged to disrupt the fluid communication between the inlet and outlet units and/or openings when the angle and/or position may not fall within such a range. The ventilation system may include various auxiliary members which is incorporated into the toilet with the airway and/or coupling members. In addition, a single pump member may be arranged to be operatively coupled to more than two airway members each of which may be coupled to a different toilet and to provide ventilation to more than two toilets.

In another aspect of the present invention, a ventilation system is provided for a toilet including at least one stationary part and at least one movable part, where the stationary part has a toilet base and/or a water reservoir, while the movable part includes a toilet seat and/or a toilet lid which may be arranged to be movably coupled to at least a portion of the stationary part. The toilet base is arranged to define a toilet cavity arranged to receive a substance giving off odorous air, whereas the toilet seat may be movably disposed over the toilet base and arranged to define a center aperture therein. Such a ventilation system is arranged to transport air from the toilet cavity to an exit for such an odorous air inside the toilet cavity and may include at least one airway member, at least one coupling member, and at least one pump member. The airway member includes at least one inlet unit and at least one outlet unit, where the inlet unit is arranged to have at least one inlet opening which is in fluid communication with the toilet cavity and where the outlet unit is arranged to define at least one outlet opening which is in fluid communication with the exit. The coupling member is disposed between the inlet and outlet units and arranged to move between at least one on-position and at least one off-position, where the coupling member is arranged to form a fluid communication between the inlet and outlet units in the on-position and to disrupt at least a portion of the fluid communication therebetween in the off-position.

Embodiments of this aspect of the invention may include one or more of the following features.

At least a portion of the airway member may be arranged to be embedded into, fixedly coupled to, movably coupled to, and/or detachably coupled to one or more of the foregoing toilet parts such as the toilet seat, toilet lid, toilet base, water reservoir, and so on. Different parts of the airway member except the inlet and outlet openings may be arranged to have similar cross-sectional areas, e.g., not different by more than 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%, and the like. Different parts of the airway member excluding such inlet and outlet openings may be arranged to have similar cross-sectional shapes, e.g., having aspect ratios ranging from 0.3 to 1.0, 0.5 to 1.0, from 0.7 to 1.0, from 0.9 to 1.1, from 1.0 to 1.5, 1.0 to 3.0, and so on. Typical examples of such shapes may be, e.g., rectangular, oval, circular, and the like. In the alternative, different parts of the airway member except the inlet and outlet openings may be arranged to have similar hydraulic or pneumatic resistances to air flow therethrough. In another alternative, different parts of the airway member excluding the inlet and outlet openings may be arranged to have resistances to air flow less than a preset maximum value as described above.

The pump member may be operatively coupled to the airway and/or coupling members to pump air through the airway and coupling members. The pump member is generally arranged to transport or pump air from the inlet unit to the outlet unit when the coupling member is moved to or disposed in the on-position. The pump member may b arranged to be detachably disposed along the airway and/or coupling members. The ventilation system may include a conventional dry-cell or rechargeable battery arranged to supply electricity to the pump member. Such a system may include a locking unit arranged to detachably couple and lock the inlet and outlet units thereto. The locking unit has a locking position and an unlocking position and respectively disposed in the locking and unlocking positions when the airway and/or coupling members may be disposed in the on- and off-positions.

The coupling member may be arranged to move from one to the other of or disposed in the on- and off-positions in response to movement of the toilet seat and/or lid. The toilet seat may have a flat seat position and a non-flat seat position and the toilet lid may have a flat lid position and a non-flat lid position. The coupling member may be in the on-position when the toilet seat is in its flat seat position and/or the toilet lid is in its non-flat lid position. The coupling member may be in its off-position when the toilet seat is in its non-flat seat position or when the toilet lid is in its flat lid position. The coupling member may include a first coupler unit and a second coupler unit defining a first air pathway and a second air pathway therein, respectively. At least one of the first and second coupler units may be arranged to move toward the other of the coupler units to form a fluid communication therebetween in the on-position and to move away from the other thereof in order to disrupt at least a portion of such a fluid communication in the off-position. At least one of the foregoing coupler units may be arranged to move along at least one of an arcuate and linear path. In the alternative, one of the first and second coupler units may be arranged to be movably disposed in the other of the coupler units so as to form the fluid communication in the on-position and to be detached from the other thereof to disrupt at least a portion of such a fluid communication in the off-position. The first and second coupler units may be arranged to move along an arcuate path or along two different arcuate paths. In another exemplary embodiment, the coupling member may include a first coupler unit and a second coupler unit defining at least one first opening and at least one second opening thereon, respectively, where one of the first and second coupler units may be arranged to be movably disposed over the other thereof to align the first and second openings and to form a fluid communication therebetween in the on-position and then to misalign the first and second openings to disrupt at least a portion of such a fluid communication in the off-position. Such a first coupler unit may define thereon a first arcuate surface defining at least one first opening, such a second couplet unit may define thereon a second arcuate surface defining at least one second opening, and one of the first and second coupler units may be arranged to rotate with respect to the other thereof along their arcuate surfaces. The first and second arcuate surfaces may be arranged to form at least portions of substantially a curved surface of a cylinder or a sphere. Alternatively, the first and second arcuate surfaces may be arranged to have a substantially identical center axis and a radius of a cylinder, and one of the first and second coupler units may be arranged to rotate with respect to the other coupler unit about the center axis. In another alternative, the first and second arcuate surfaces may be arranged to have a substantially identical center and a radius of a sphere, and one of the first and second coupler units may be arranged to rotate with respect to the other coupler unit about the center. In the above exemplary embodiments, one of the first and second coupler units may be arranged to be disposed inside the other thereof in a concentric manner.

The coupling member may be arranged to move from one of the on- and off-positions to the other thereof in response to angles formed between the toilet seat and the toilet lid such that, e.g., the coupling member may be in its on-position when the angle is within a preset range, and to be in its off-position when the angle is outside of the range of the angle. Such a range may range from 50 to 180 degrees, 60 to 160 degrees, 70 to 140 degrees, 80 to 120 degrees, 90 to 100 degrees, and the like. The airway and/or coupling members may include at least one damper unit moving between a blocking position and a non-blocking position. The damper unit is arranged to allow air flow in the non-blocking position and to block air flow in the blocking position. The damper unit may be arranged to move from one to the other of the blocking and non-blocking positions in response to movement of the toilet seat and/or lid.

At least a portion of the inlet unit of the airway member may be embedded into, detachably coupled to, movably coupled to, and/or fixedly coupled to the toilet seat and/or lid. The airway member may include at least one air guide unit arranged to introduce air toward the toilet cavity, where the air introduced through the air guide unit may be supplied by the pump member or may be atmospheric air or air from the toilet cavity recirculated by the pump member after removing the odorous substances therefrom. The inlet unit may be arranged to be disposed above or over the toilet base and to have at least one inlet opening in fluid communication with the toilet cavity. The inlet unit may be arranged to have a cross-section which is, e.g., a C-shape, O-shape, U-shape, V-shape, and their combinations. The inlet unit may be arranged to define multiple inlet openings at least a substantial number of which may be arranged to be in fluid communication with the toilet cavity. The inlet openings may further be arranged to have a total cross-sectional area which may not be substantially less than that of the rest of the inlet unit. The inlet unit may include at least one splash guard arranged to block water inside the toilet cavity from splashing onto the inlet opening. At least a portion of the inlet unit may be made of or include elastic, compliant or deformable material and arranged to decrease its cross-sectional area in response to an external force exerted thereon. The inlet unit may include at least one guard disposed along a portion of its length and arranged to block at least a portion of a space between the inlet unit and the toilet base. Such a guard may be arranged to be deformable.

The ventilation system may include at least one filter member disposed along the airway and/or coupling members and capable of removing odorous substance from air flowing therethrough. Such a filter member may include active ingredients capable of removing the odorous substances from the air by, e.g., adsorption, absorption, physical filtration, photochemical reaction, chemical reaction, and the like, where the photochemical reaction may include treatment of the air by irradiation of ultraviolet light rays. The filter member may also include, e.g., a packed column of the active ingredients, a bag of the active ingredients, a screen coated with such ingredients, a mesh coated with such ingredients, and a fabric coated with such ingredients. The filter member may also be detachably disposed along the airway and/or coupling members. The ventilation system may also include at least one dehydration member disposed along the airway and/or coupling members and capable of reducing humidity of air flowing therethrough. Such a dehydration member may be arranged to remove moisture from the air and/or to increase temperature of the air. The dehydration member may be arranged to include, e.g., a packed column of moisture-removing materials, a bag of such materials, a screen coated with such materials, a mesh coated with such materials, a fabric coated with such materials, and the like. Such a dehydration member may be detachably disposed along the airway and/or coupling members. The ventilation system may also include at least on air treatment member which is arranged to be in fluid communication with the airway and/or coupling members, to store a fragrant substance therein, and to release the fragrant substance into air flowing therethrough. The air treatment member may also be arranged to include, e.g., a bag of the fragrant substances, a packed column of such substances, a screen coated with such substances, a mesh coated with such substances, and a fabric coated with such substances. Such a air treatment member may be detachably disposed along the airway and/or coupling members. The ventilation system may include a sound member arranged to store at least one sound and to play one or more sounds. The sound member may store multiple prerecorded sounds to allow selection and playing of at least one of such sounds. The sound member may include a volume control unit to manipulate amplitude of the sound played thereby. The ventilation system may include a control member which may include at least one of a first unit arranged to initiate operation of the pump member, a second unit arranged to control a pumping rate of the pump member, a third unit arranged to terminate the operation of the pump member, a fourth unit arranged to control air flow through the airway and/or coupling members, a fifth unit arranged to initiate operation of the filter member, a sixth unit arranged to terminate or halt the operation of the filter member, a seventh unit arranged to initiate operation of the sound member, and an eighth unit arranged to terminate the operation of the sound member. In order to perform these functions, the control unit may also include various sensors such as, e.g., an object sensor arranged to detect presence and/or absence of an object, a motion sensor arranged to detect motion of an object, a timer arranged to detect elapsed time after an event, and the like.

In another aspect of the present invention, a ventilation system is provided for a toilet including at least one stationary part and at least one movable part, where the stationary part has a toilet base and/or a water reservoir, while the movable part includes a toilet seat and/or a toilet lid which may be arranged to be movably coupled to at least a portion of the stationary part. The toilet base is arranged to define a toilet cavity arranged to receive a substance giving off odorous air, whereas the toilet seat may be movably disposed over the toilet base and arranged to define a center aperture therein. Such a ventilation system is arranged to transport air from the toilet cavity to an exit for such an odorous air inside the toilet cavity and may include at least one airway member and at least one coupling member. The airway member includes at least one inlet unit and at least one outlet unit, where the inlet unit may be arranged to have at least one inlet opening which is in fluid communication with the toilet cavity and where the outlet unit is arranged to define at least one outlet opening which is in fluid communication with the exit. The coupling member may include an upstream end and a downstream end, where the upstream end is arranged to couple with and to be in fluid communication with the inlet unit and where the downstream end is arranged to couple with and to be in fluid communication with the outlet unit. The coupling member may be arranged to move in order to form multiple angles therealong to provide a fluid communication between the inlet and outlet units when such an angle falls within a preset range and to disrupt the such a communication when such an angle falls outside of the preset range.

Embodiments of this aspect of the invention may include one or more of the following features.

The foregoing preset range may be from 50 to 180 degrees, from 60 to 150 degrees, from 70 to 120 degrees, from 80 to 100 degrees, and the like. The ventilation system may include at least on pump member operatively coupling with the airway and/or coupling members and arranged to pump or transport air through the airway and coupling members. Such a pump member may pump the air from the inlet unit to the outlet unit when the angle formed along the coupling member falls within the preset range. Other embodiments described hereinabove may further be applied to the ventilation system of this aspect of the present invention, unless otherwise specified and/or unless such embodiments may explicitly conflict with this aspect of the present invention.

In another aspect of the present invention, a ventilation system is provided for a toilet including at least one stationary part and at least one movable part, where the stationary part has a toilet base and/or a water reservoir, while the movable part includes a toilet seat and/or a toilet lid which may be arranged to be movably coupled to at least a portion of the stationary part. The toilet base is arranged to define a toilet cavity arranged to receive a substance giving off odorous air, whereas the toilet seat may be movably disposed over the toilet base and arranged to define a center aperture therein. Such a ventilation system is arranged to transport air from the toilet cavity to an exit for such an odorous air inside the toilet cavity and may include at least one airway member and at least one coupling member. In one exemplary embodiment, such an airway member includes at least one inlet unit and at least one outlet unit, where the inlet unit is arranged to define at least one inlet opening in fluid communication with the toilet cavity and where the outlet unit is arranged to define at least one outlet opening which is in fluid communication with the exit. The coupling member is arranged to be disposed between the inlet and outlet units and to move between at least one on-position and at least one off-position. Such a coupling member may be arranged to form a fluid communication between the inlet and outlet units in the on-position and to disrupt at least a portion of such a fluid communication therebetween in the off-position. In another exemplary embodiment, the airway member includes at least one inlet unit and at least one outlet unit, where the inlet unit is arranged to have at least one inlet opening which is in fluid communication with the toilet cavity and where the outlet unit is arranged to define at least one outlet opening which is in turn in fluid communication with the exit. The coupling member is arranged to be disposed between the inlet and outlet units and to change its configuration between at least one on-configuration and at least one off-configuration, when the coupling member is arranged to form a fluid communication in the on-configuration and to disrupt at least a portion of the fluid communication in the off-configuration. In either embodiments, the airway and/or coupling members may be arranged to be at least one of embedded into, fixedly coupled to, movably coupled to, and detachably coupled to the toilet seat, toilet lid, and/or toilet base.

Embodiments of this aspect of the invention may include one or more of the following features.

The ventilation system may include at least one pump member operatively coupling with at least one of the airway and coupling members and arranged to pump air through the airway and/or coupling members. Other embodiments described hereinabove may further be applied to the ventilation system of this aspect of the present invention, unless otherwise specified and/or unless such embodiments may explicitly conflict with this aspect of the present invention.

In another aspect of the present invention, a ventilation toilet includes at least one stationary and/or movable part which is incorporated with various members and/or units of the toilet ventilation system described hereinabove.

In one exemplary embodiment, a ventilation toilet may include a toilet base which defines a toilet cavity therein, which is arranged to receive a substance giving off odorous air, and which includes at least one airway member and at least one pump member each of which may be detachably coupled to, movably coupled to, fixedly coupled to, and/or embedded into such a toilet base. When desirable, at least a portion of at least one of such members may be similarly coupled to other stationary and/or movable parts of the toilet. The airway member may be arranged to be in fluid communication with the toilet cavity and an exit for the odorous air, whereas the pump member may be arranged to pump the odorous air out of the toilet cavity to the exit through the airway member. Such a ventilation toilet may generally include a toilet seat arranged to be movably coupled to the toilet base.

In another exemplary embodiment, a ventilation toilet may include a toilet base, a toilet seat, and a water reservoir. The toilet base defines a toilet cavity arranged to receive a substance which gives off odorous air and the toilet seat may be arranged to movably couple with the toilet base. The water reservoir is arranged to store water, to supply the water to the toilet cavity, and to include at least on airway member and at least one pump member each of which may be detachably coupled to, movably coupled to, fixedly coupled to, and/or embedded into the water reservoir. When desirable, at least a portion of at least one of such members may be similarly coupled to other stationary and/or movable parts of the toilet. The airway member is arranged to be in fluid communication with the toilet cavity and an exit for the odorous air, while the pump member is arranged to pump the odorous air out of the toilet cavity to the exit through the airway member.

In another exemplary embodiment, a ventilation toilet may include a toilet base and a toilet seat. The toilet base defines a toilet cavity arranged to receive a substance giving off odorous air, whereas the toilet seat is arranged to be movably coupled to the toilet base and to include at least one airway member and at least one pump member each of which may be fixedly coupled to, movably coupled to, embedded into, and/or detachably coupled to the toilet seat. When desirable, at least a portion of at least one of such members may be similarly coupled to other stationary and/or movable parts of the toilet. The airway member is arranged to be in fluid communication with the toilet cavity and an exit for the odorous air, while the pump member is arranged to pump the odorous air out of the toilet cavity to the exit through the airway member.

In another exemplary embodiment, a ventilation toilet may include a toilet base, a toilet seat, and a toilet lid. The toilet base typically defines a toilet cavity arranged to receive a substance which gives off odorous air, while a toilet seat is arranged to movably couple with the toilet base. The toilet lid may be arranged to movably couple with the toilet base and/or toilet seat, and include at least one airway member and at least one pump member which are at least one of movably coupled to, embedded into, fixedly coupled to, and/or detachably coupled to the toilet lid. When desirable, at least a portion of at least one of such members may be similarly couple with other stationary and/or movable parts of the toilet. The airway member is arranged to be in fluid communication with the toilet cavity as will as an exit for the odorous air, whereas the pump member is arranged to pump the odorous air from the toilet cavity to the exit through the airway member.

In another exemplary embodiment, a ventilation toilet may include a toilet lid, a toilet seat, a toilet base, and at least one pump member. The toilet base may define a toilet cavity arranged to receive a substance giving off odorous air and include at least one first airway member which is arranged to be in fluid communication with one of an exit for the odorous air and toilet cavity and to be embedded into, fixedly coupled to, movably coupled to, and/or detachably coupled to the toilet base. The toilet seat is arranged to movably couple with the toilet base and may include at least one second airway member arranged to be in fluid communication with the other of the toilet cavity and the exit and to be movably coupled to, fixedly coupled to, detachably coupled to, and/or embedded into the toilet seat. The toilet lid is arranged to movably couple with the toilet base and/or seat, and the pump member is arranged to be embedded into, movably coupled to, fixedly coupled to, and/or detachably coupled to the toilet seat, base, and/or lid, and to transport the odorous air out of the toilet cavity to the exit through the first and second airway member.

In another exemplary embodiment, a ventilation toilet may include a toilet lid, a toilet seat, a toilet base, and at least one pump member. The toilet base may define a toilet cavity arranged to receive a substance giving off odorous air. The toilet seat is arranged to be movably coupled to the toilet base and includes at least one first airway member which is arranged to be in fluid communication with the toilet cavity and to be fixedly coupled to, movably coupled to, detachably coupled to, and/or embedded into the toilet seat. The toilet lid is arranged to be movably coupled to the toilet base and/or toilet seat and includes at least one second airway member which is arranged to be in fluid communication with an exit for the odorous air and to be embedded into, fixedly coupled to, detachably coupled to, and/or movably coupled to the toilet lid. The pump member is arranged to be embedded into, movably coupled to, fixedly coupled to, and/or detachably coupled to the toilet base, toilet seat, and/or toilet lid, and also to transport the odorous air from the toilet cavity to the exit through the above first and second airway member.

In another exemplary embodiment, a ventilation toilet may also include a toilet base, a toilet seat, a water reservoir, and at least one pump member. The toilet base defines a toilet cavity arranged to receive a substance giving off odorous air. The water reservoir is arranged to store water, to supply the water to the toilet cavity, and to include at least one first airway member which is arranged to be in fluid communication with one of an exit for the odorous air and toilet cavity and to be embedded into, fixedly coupled to, movably coupled to, and/or detachably coupled to the water reservoir. The toilet seat is arranged to be movably coupled to the toilet base and to include at least one second airway member arranged to be in fluid communication with the other of the toilet cavity and the exit and to be fixedly coupled to, movably coupled to, detachably coupled to, and/or embedded into the toilet seat. The pump member may be arranged to be embedded into, movably coupled to, detachably coupled to, and/or movably coupled to the toilet base, seat, and/or lid, and to transport the odorous air out of the toilet cavity to the exit through the first and second airway member.

In another exemplary embodiment, a ventilation toilet includes a toilet base, a water reservoir, a toilet seat, and a toilet lid. The toilet base defines a toilet cavity arranged to receive a substance giving off odorous air. The water reservoir stores water, supplies water to the toilet cavity, and includes at least one first airway member arranged to be in fluid communication with one of the toilet cavity and an exit for the odorous air and to be embedded into, fixedly coupled to, detachably coupled to, and/or movably coupled to the water reservoir. The toilet seat is arranged to movably couple with the toilet base, and the toilet lid is arranged to movably couple with one of the toilet base and toilet seat and to include at least one second airway member arranged to be in fluid communication with the other of the toilet cavity and the exit, and to be embedded into, movably coupled to, detachably coupled to, and/or fixedly coupled to the toilet seat. Other embodiments described hereinabove may be applied to such a ventilation system of this aspect of the present invention, unless otherwise specified and/or unless such embodiments may explicitly conflict with this aspect of the present invention.

In another aspect of this invention, a method may be provided for transporting odorous air out of a toilet including at least one stationary part and at least one movable part. The stationary part may include a toilet base and/or a water reservoir, while the movable part may include a toilet seat and/or a toilet lid and be arranged to be movably coupled to at least a portion of the stationary part. The toilet base is arranged to define a toilet cavity therein, and the toilet seat is movably disposed over the toilet base and arranged to define a center aperture therein. In one exemplary embodiment, the method may include the steps of providing a fluid communication between an exit for the odorous air and the toilet cavity while keeping similar and maximum attainable cross-sectional areas along an entire or at least a substantial portion of such a fluid communication; at least one of embedding, fixedly coupling, movably coupling, and detachably coupling at least a portion of the fluid communication to one or more of such stationary and/or movable parts of the toilet; operatively coupling at least one pump member to the fluid communication; receiving odorous substances giving off an odorous air by the toilet cavity; generating a negative pressure by the pump member; and pumping the odorous air out of the toilet cavity toward or to the exit by the negative pressure created by the pump member through the fluid communication while incurring a minimum pressure drop therethrough which may be in turn attained by the similar and maximum cross-sectional areas thereof. In another exemplary embodiment, the method includes the steps of providing fluid communication between the toilet cavity and an exit for the odorous air while keeping similar cross-sectional shapes along the fluid communication; at least one of fixedly coupling, movably coupling, detachably coupling, and embedding at least a portion of the fluid communication to one or more of the stationary and/or movable parts of the toilet; operatively coupling a pump member with the fluid communication; receiving an odorous substance giving off the odorous air by the toilet cavity; generating a negative pressure by the pump member; and pumping the odorous air out of the toilet cavity to the exit by the negative pressure of the pump member through the fluid communication while incurring a minimum pressure drop therethrough attained by the similar cross-sectional shapes thereof. In another exemplary embodiment, the method may include the steps of providing an airway member defining at least one inlet opening, at least one outlet opening, and at least one air pathway which fluidly connects the inlet and outlet openings while arranging the air pathway to have similar and maximum attainable cross-sectional areas therealong; at least one of embedding, fixedly coupling, movably coupling, and detachably coupling at least a portion of the airway member to one or more of the stationary and/or movable parts of the toilet; fluidly connecting such an inlet opening with the toilet cavity; fluidly connecting such an outlet opening with an exit for the odorous air; operatively coupling a pump member with the airway member; receiving an odorous substance giving off the odorous air by the toilet cavity; generating a negative pressure by a pump member, and pumping the odorous air out of the toilet cavity toward or to the exit by the negative pressure of the pump member through the airway member while incurring a minimum pressure drop therethrough due to the similar and maximum cross-sectional areas thereof. In another exemplary embodiment, the method may instead include the steps of providing an airway member having at least one inlet opening, at least one outlet opening, and at least one air pathway which fluidly connects the inlet and outlet openings while arranging such an air pathway to have similar cross-sectional shapes therealong; at least one of embedding, detachably coupling, movably coupling, and fixedly coupling at least a portion of such an airway member to one or more of the stationary and/or movable parts of the toilet; fluidly connecting the inlet opening with the toilet cavity fluidly connecting the outlet opening with an exit for the odorous air; operatively coupling a pump member with the airway member; receiving an odorous substance giving off the odorous air by the toilet cavity; generating a negative pressure by a pump member; and pumping the odorous air out of the toilet cavity toward or to the exit by the negative pressure created by the pump member through the airway member while incurring a minimum pressure drop therethrough which is attained by such similar cross-sectional shapes therealong.

In another aspect of this invention, another method may be provided for transporting odorous air from a toilet by incorporating a ventilation system to the toilet including at least one stationary part and at least one movable part. The stationary part includes a toilet base and/or a water reservoir, and the movable part includes a toilet seat and/or a toilet lid each of which may be movably coupled to at least a portion of the stationary part. The toilet base is arranged to define a toilet cavity therein, while the toilet seat is arranged to be movably disposed on or over the toilet base, to move between its flat (seat) position and a vertical (seat) position, and to define a center aperture therein. In one exemplary embodiment, the method may include the steps of providing an airway member which defines an air pathway therethrough; operatively coupling the airway member to a pump member which is capable of transporting air through the airway member; incorporating an entire portion of the airway member into at least one of the movable part of the toilet while disposing one end of the airway member in fluid communication with the toilet cavity and while disposing the other end of the airway member in fluid communication with an exit of the odorous air; receiving an odorous substance giving off the odorous air in the toilet cavity; starting the pump member and transporting the odorous air from the toilet cavity to the exit through the airway member; and terminating the pump member when the transporting may be deemed completed. In another exemplary embodiment, the method may instead include the steps of providing an airway member with a first air pathway and a second air pathway; operatively coupling the airway member to a pump member which is capable of transporting air through the above first and second air pathways of the airway member; incorporating the first air pathway of the airway member into the toilet seat while disposing one end of the first air pathway in fluid communication with the toilet cavity; incorporating the second air pathway of the airway member into the toilet lid while placing one end of the second portion in fluid communication with an exit of the odorous air; movably coupling the first and second air pathways of the airway member; receiving an odorous substance giving off the odorous air inside the toilet cavity; starting the pump member, thereby transporting the odorous air out of the toilet cavity toward or to the exit through the first and second pathways of the airway member; and terminating the pump member when the transporting is completed.

In another aspect of this invention, another method may be provided for ventilating odorous air using a ventilation system from a toilet including at least one stationary part and at least one movable part. The stationary part includes a toilet base and/or a water reservoir and the movable part includes a toilet seat and/or a toilet lid each of which may be arranged to movably couple with at least a portion of the toilet. The toilet base defines a toilet cavity therein, and the toilet seat is disposed over the toilet base and defines a center aperture therein. The ventilation system includes an airway member which includes at least one inlet unit, at least one first channel unit fluidly connected to the inlet unit, at least one second channel unit, and at least one outlet unit fluidly connected to the second channel unit. In one exemplary embodiment, the method may include the steps of disposing the inlet unit to be in fluid communication with the toilet cavity of the toilet base; disposing the outlet unit in fluid communication with an exit of the odorous air; movably coupling the first and second channel units in order to form a fluid communication therethrough in at least one on-position and to disrupt at least a portion of such a fluid communication in at least one off-position; transporting the odorous air from the toilet cavity to or toward the exit through the inlet unit, first channel unit, second channel unit, and outlet unit when the channel units may be disposed in the on-position; and terminating the transporting when the channel units are disposed in the off-position. In another exemplary embodiment, the method may include the steps of incorporating at least a substantial portion of the inlet unit and at least a substantial portion of the first channel unit into the toilet seat; fluidly connecting the inlet unit with the toilet cavity of the toilet base; incorporating at least a substantial portion of the second channel unit and the outlet unit into the toilet lid; fluidly connecting the outlet unit with an exit for the odorous air; coupling the first and second channel units so as to form fluid communication therethrough by moving the toilet seat and/or lid with respect to the other thereof; and pumping the odorous air from the toilet cavity to the exit through the inlet unit, first channel unit, second channel unit, and outlet unit.

As used herein, the term “toilet” refers to a device which includes, e.g., at least one stationary part such as, e.g., a toilet base and a water reservoir, and at least one movable (or mobile) part such as, e.g., a toilet seat and a toilet lid. A typical example is a household toilet with the toilet base, water reservoir, toilet seat, and toilet lid, where a toilet cavity which is formed inside the toilet base is at least partially filled with water and flushed away to a sewer or a septic tank by water stored in the water reservoir. Another example is the toilet which includes the toilet base, toilet seat, and optional toilet lid. Such a toilet does not generally include the water reservoir within its vicinity and, therefore, depends upon an external water reservoir which supplies water to partially fill the toilet cavity and to flush the toilet cavity to the sewer or septic tank along with feces and urine. The “toilet” also includes various air-operated toilets frequently used in various transportation means such as, e.g., recreation vehicles, buses, trains, and airplanes, various portable toilets used in, e.g., public areas and construction sites. Within the scope of the present invention, the “toilet” may include any other devices capable of storing and/or disposing feces and urine.

As used herein, an “airway member” generally means any article including therein at least one air conduit through which air may travel. The “airway member” typically includes at least one inlet unit, at least one outlet unit, and at least one channel unit arranged to fluidly connect such an inlet unit with the outlet unit. As long as air may be displaced from the inlet unit through the channel unit to the outlet unit, such an “airway member” may be arranged to have any (exterior) shapes, sizes, and/or cross-sectional shapes. The “airway member” may further be arranged to be airtight except through at least one inlet opening defined in the inlet unit and at least one outlet opening defines in the outlet unit and/or except through at least one auxiliary opening which may bifurcate from any of the inlet, outlet, and/or channel units. The “airway member” may be synonymous with other conventional terms including, but not be limited to, “air pathway member,” “air passageway,” “air passageway member,” and the like. It is to be understood that an “air pathway” may also mean any air conduit through which air may travel. Accordingly, when the “air pathway” is used herein in conjunction with the “airway member” and/or its various units and/or with a coupling member, the “air pathway” refers to the air conduit defined in such an “airway member,” its units, and/or coupling member.

An “upstream” and a “downstream” are to be construed relatively with respect to a reference. When no explicit reference is mentioned, a toilet cavity filled with an odorous air is an upstream, while an exit or a space into which the odorous air is dispensed and/or to which odor-free air is recycled is a downstream. When a reference is selected, one end of the reference which is more proximate to the toilet cavity along an aright is construed as an upstream, and another end of the reference which is more proximate to the exit along the air path is construed as a downstream.

Unless otherwise defined in the specification, all technical and/or scientific terms used herein generally have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs. Although the methods and materials equivalent and/or similar to those described herein may be used in the practice or testing of the present invention, the suitable methods and/or materials are only described below. All publications, patent applications, patents, and/or other references mentioned herein are to be incorporated by reference in their entirety. In case of conflict, the present specification, including the definitions provided hereinabove and hereinafter, will control. In addition, the materials, methods, and/or examples are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting the scope of the present invention.

Other features and/or advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description and/or from the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a front view (left) and a top view (right) of a conventional toilet;

FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram of basic members and units of an exemplary ventilation system according to the present invention;

FIG. 2B is a schematic diagram of basic members and/or units of another exemplary ventilation system according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of another exemplary ventilation system with a curved coupling member and various auxiliary members according to the present invention;

FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram of an exemplary ventilation arranged to be fitted into an existing toilet according to the present invention;

FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram of an exemplary portion of a ventilation system implemented to a toilet lid according to the present invention;

FIG. 4C is a schematic diagram of an exemplary portion of a ventilation system implemented to a toilet seat according to the present invention;

FIG. 4D is a schematic diagram of an exemplary ventilation system implemented into a toilet lid according to the present invention;

FIG. 4E is a schematic diagram of an exemplary ventilation system implemented into a toilet seat according to the present invention;

FIG. 5A is a schematic diagram of an exemplary ventilation system including an airway member fixedly incorporated into a toilet seat and toilet lid and coupled to each other by an exemplary coupling member according to the present invention;

FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view of the ventilation system along the line A-A of FIG. 5A when the coupling member is moved to or disposed in its on-position according to the present invention;

FIG. 5C is a cross-sectional view of the ventilation system along the line A-A of FIG. 5A when the coupling member is moved to or disposed in its off-position according to the present invention;

FIG. 6A is a schematic diagram of an exemplary ventilation system including an airway member fixedly incorporated into a toilet seat and a toilet lid and coupled to each other by another exemplary coupling member according to the present invention;

FIG. 6B is a cross-sectional view of the ventilation system along the line B-B of FIG. 6A when the coupling member is moved to or disposed in its on-position according to the present invention;

FIG. 6C is a cross-sectional view of the ventilation system along the line B-B of FIG. 6A when the coupling member is moved to or disposed in its off-position according to the present invention;

FIG. 7A is a schematic diagram of an exemplary inlet unit of an airway member of a ventilation system according to the present invention; and

FIG. 7B is a schematic diagram of another exemplary inlet unit of an airway member of another ventilation system according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention generally relates to a ventilation system for a toilet to discharge odorous air from a toilet cavity of the toilet through an exit before the odorous air escapes from the toilet cavity. More particularly, the present invention relates to a toilet ventilation system for collecting the odorous air from the toilet cavity, transporting such through air pathways thereof, and discharging such to the exit. The present invention also relates to a toilet ventilation system for collecting the odorous air from the toilet cavity, removing at least a portion of odorous substances contained therein, and returning or recirculating a substantially odor-free air into a space in which the toilet is placed. Such a ventilation system of the present invention may be incorporated into various toilets in various embodiments such that, e.g., at least a portion or an entire portion of such a ventilation system may be embedded into the toilet or its parts, movably coupled to the toilet or its parts, detachably coupled to the toilets or its parts, or fixedly coupled to the toilet or its parts. Accordingly, the ventilation system of the present invention may be incorporated into a new toilet during its manufacture and/or may be arranged to be retrofit into an existing toilet. In addition, the toilet ventilation system of this invention may be arranged to ventilate a single toilet or to ventilate multiple toilets. The present invention further relates to various methods of making such toilet ventilation systems and utilizing such systems for removing the odorous air from the toilet cavity and/or for removing the odorous substances therefrom. In addition, the present invention relates to various processes of making such toilet ventilation systems.

FIG. 1 shows a front view (left) and a top view (right) of a conventional toilet which includes a stationary part such as a toilet base and movable parts such as a toilet seat and an optional toilet lid or toilet cover according to the present invention. A toilet base 20 of a conventional toilet 10 is generally fixedly attached to a bathroom floor, and defines a toilet cavity 21 and at least one discharge hole 22 which communicates with a sewer, a septic tank or other discharge containers. Such a toilet base 20 is arranged to receive water from an external water reservoir (not shown in the figure) to fill the toilet cavity 21 to a preset height, to receive odorous materials into the water, and to flush the contaminated water through the discharge hole 22. In the alternative, an optional water reservoir (not shown in the figure) may be disposed above or over the toilet base 20, receive water from such an external water reservoir, and supply water to the toilet base 20 to fill the toilet cavity 21 to the preset height and/or to empty the contaminated water inside such a cavity 21. The toilet seat 50 is generally movably coupled to the toilet base 20 and defines therein a center aperture 51 so that an user may sit thereon and then discharge feces and/or urine therethrough. Such a toilet seat 50 is generally rotatably coupled to the toilet base 20 by, e.g., a conventional hinge 52, in order to rotate between its open position and closed position. The toilet seat 50 may include one or more spacers 53 disposed thereunder to provide a gap 54 between the toilet base 20 and toilet seat 50. The toilet lid 60 is similarly rotatably coupled to such a toilet base 20 by the same (or different) hinge 52 to pivot thereabout between its open position and closed position in order respectively to expose and to cover the center aperture 51 of the toilet seat 50 disposed thereunder.

Ventilation systems of the present invention may be provided in a variety of embodiments and may be incorporated into the above conventional toilet and/or other types of toilets. For example, such a toilet ventilation system of this invention may be arranged to be fixedly, movably, and/or detachably attached to various toilets and/or their part(s). Alternatively, the toilet ventilation system of the present invention may be provided as a ventilation toilet and/or a ventilation toilet part(s) which may include at least one or more members and/or units of such a system as will be described in greater detail below. Following figures illustrate several exemplary aspects and their embodiments of the ventilation system and its members and/or units according to the present invention. It is to be understood, however, that such figures and/or accompanying descriptions are illustrative only, and not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. In addition, such figures are generally not drawn to the scale.

In one aspect of the present invention, an exemplary toilet ventilation system generally includes an airway member including at least one inlet unit, at least one outlet unit, and at least one channel unit fluidly coupling the inlet unit with the outlet unit. For example, FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram of basic members and/or units of an exemplary ventilation system according to the present invention. Such an exemplary ventilation system 100 includes at least one airway member 200 which in turn includes at least one inlet unit 210, at least one channel unit 220, and/or at least one outlet unit 250. The inlet unit 210 is arranged to be fluidly connected to or to be in fluid communication with air inside the toilet cavity 21, whereas the outlet unit 250 is arranged to be fluidly connected to or to be in fluid communication with an exit (not shown in the figure) such as an external space (e.g., atmosphere), a conduit (e.g., a vent duct) which leads to the external space, an internal space in which a toilet incorporating such a ventilation system 100 is disposed, and so on. The channel unit 220 is typically disposed between the inlet and outlet units 210, 250 so that each of opposing ends 221, 222 of the channel unit 220 may be fixedly, movably, and/or detachably coupled to the inlet and outlet units 210, 250, respectively. As will be explained in greater detail below, at least a portion 223 of the channel unit 220 may be arranged to move and/or change at least one of its configuration such as, e.g., its shape, size, arrangement, and orientation with respect to other parts of the toilet or ventilation system 100 in response to a position and/or movement of the inlet unit 210, outlet unit 250, other part(s) of channel unit 220, toilet, and the like. In the alternative, at least a portion 223 of the channel unit 220 may also be arranged to change such a configuration in response to angles formed between the inlet and outlet units 210, 250 and/or between other parts of the ventilation system 100.

The airway member 200 and its component units which have been described hereinabove and will be described hereinafter may be made of any materials such as, e.g., plastics, metals, laminated fabrics, and so on, as long as they may provide a sufficient mechanical integrity and strength thereto and as far as they may at least substantially prevent leakage of air therethrough, although the plastics matching a color of the toilet and/or its parts are preferred. Dimensions and/or configurations of such an airway member 200 may be determined by those of toilet parts into which the airway member 200 is to be incorporated and/or with which the airway member 200 is to form an integral or unitary article Dimensions and/or configurations of the above component units of the airway member 200 may then be determined based on those of the airway member 200 and/or various parts of the toilet.

In another aspect of the present invention, a toilet ventilation system may include at least one airway member and at least one coupling member, where the airway member includes more than one channel unit, while the coupling member fluidly couples adjacent channel units. For example, FIG. 2B denotes a schematic diagram of basic members and/or units of another exemplary ventilation system according to the present invention. Contrary to the airway member having the deformable or movable portion 223 capable of varying its configuration as illustrated in FIG. 2A, an airway member 200 of FIG. 2B has at least one inlet unit 210 and at least one outlet unit 250, and further includes at least one first channel unit 230 and at least one second channel unit 240 disposed in series between the above inlet and outlet units 210, 250. A coupling member 300 is disposed between the first and second channel units 230, 240 and fluidly connected thereto such that air may flow from the inlet unit 210 to the outlet unit 250 therethrough. Each end of the first channel unit 230, e.g., at least one first inlet end 231 and at least one first outlet end 232, may be arranged to be movably, fixedly, and/or detachably coupled to the inlet unit 210 and to a first coupling end 301 of the coupling member 300, respectively. In addition, opposing ends of the second channel unit 240, e.g., at least one second inlet end 241 and at least one second outlet end 242, may also be arranged to be movably, fixedly, and/or detachably coupled to a second coupling 302 end of the coupling member 300 and the outlet unit 250, respectively. The above ends of various units 210, 230, 240, 250 and those of the coupling member 300 may be fluidly coupled to each other by any conventional arrangements as far as they may fixedly or movably form airtight or well-sealed fluid connection therebetween to allow an air flow therethrough in an anterograde and/or retrograde direction. As will be explained in greater detail below, at least a portion of such a coupling member 300 may also be arranged to move and/or change at least one of its configurations (e.g., its shape, size, arrangement, and/or orientation with respect to other parts of the toilet and/or ventilation system 100 in response to a position and/or movement of the inlet and/or outlet units 210, 250, the first and/or second channel units 230, 240, and other parts of coupling member 300 and/or in response to angles formed therebetween.

The coupling member 300 and its component units which have been described heretofore and will be described hereinafter may be made of any materials such as, e.g., plastics, metals, laminated fabrics, and so on, as long as they may provide a sufficient mechanical integrity and strength thereto and they may at least partially prevent leakage of air therethrough, although a rigid, semi-rigid, and/or deformable plastic which matches a color of the air way member 200 and/or other parts of the toilet may be preferred. Dimensions and/or configurations of the coupling member 300 may be determined by those of the airway member 200 or other toilet parts into which such a coupling member 300 may be incorporated and/or with which the coupling member 300 is to form an integral or unitary article. Dimensions and/or configurations of the above component units of the coupling member 300 may then be determined based on those of the airway member 200 and/or various parts of the toilet.

In another aspect of the present invention, a toilet ventilation system may similarly have at least one airway member and at least one coupling member, where the airway member includes more than one channel unit and where the coupling member has a curved configuration to fluidly couple adjacent channel units at an angle and/or traverse to each other. For example, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of another exemplary ventilation system which includes a curved coupling member and various auxiliary members according to the present invention. In general, a ventilation system 100 of this embodiment is similar to that of FIG. 2B, except that a coupling member 300 has a curved configuration so that its first coupling end 301 and second coupling end 302 are aligned, e.g., at about a right angle. Accordingly, a first channel unit 230 and a second channel unit 240 which couple with the first and second coupling ends 301, 302, respectively, may be aligned approximately at the same angle, and an inlet unit 210 and an outlet unit 250 which are respectively coupled to the first and second channel units 230, 240 may also be aligned approximately at the same angle. Such a curved coupling member 300 is useful when various units of the ventilation system 100 have to be disposed in a limit d space. The toilet ventilation system 100 also includes at least one pump member 400 functionally and operatively coupling with the airway member 200 and/or coupling member 300 and capable of pumping air therethrough. The pump member 400 is generally arranged to take in air from the toilet cavity 21 through the inlet unit 210, and then transports such air through the first channel unit 230, coupling member 300, second channel unit 240, and outlet unit 250. Such a pump member 400 may be provided with a switch such that an user may manually control operation thereof. In the alternative, the pump member 400 may be arranged to operate automatically so that, e.g., the pump member 400 is turned on when the user is present, when the user sits on the toilet seat 50, when the toilet seat 50 and/or toilet lid 60 may be moved to or placed in a certain position and/or direction, and/or when a movable coupling member 300 is moved to and/or disposed in its closed state. Conversely, the pump member 400 may also be arranged to be turned off when the user is absent or away from the ventilation system 100 beyond a preset distance, when the user stands up from the toilet seat 50, when the toilet seat 50 and/or lid 60 is moved to or disposed in another position or direction, when the movable coupling member 300 is moved to and/or disposed in its open state, and the like. Details of such manual and automatic operations of such a pump member 400 will be provided in greater detail below.

Any conventional pumps may be used and/or incorporated into the pump member 400 as long as such pumps may generate a proper pressure gradient thereacross so as to transport the odorous or contaminated air from the toilet cavity 21 to an exit. Examples of such pumps may include, but not be limited to, a variety of air or gas pumps, blowers, fans, vacuum pumps, and other conventional air displacement equipment known in the relevant art. It is appreciated, however, that the pump member 400 displace the odorous air from the toilet cavity 21 at and/or over a preset flow rate. Therefore, it is preferred that the pump member 300 be selected to have a pumping capacity and/or a pumping power enough to generate at least a preset pressure drop or gradient between the inlet and outlet units 210, 250, while accounting for any viscous pressure drop therebetween. It is also preferred that the pump member 400 have operational characteristics similar to those of metering pumps which are capable of maintaining air flow rate within a preset range against temporal and/or spatial variations in pneumatic or hydraulic resistance, pressure drop along the airway and/or coupling members 200, 300, and other operational parameters in an upstream and/or downstream of the pump member 400. In general, such a pump member 400 may be disposed in any location of the toilet ventilation system 100. Accordingly, such a pump member 400 may be disposed apart from the airway and/or coupling member 200, 300 as far as the pump member 400 maintains a fluid communication with at least a portion of the airway and/or coupling members 200, 300. Because the odorous air generally includes a substantial amount of moisture therein, the pump member 400 may preferably be arranged to be waterproof or, at least its internal parts may be made of anti-rusting and/or anticorrosive materials. The pump member 400 may also be arranged to operate by an AC and/or DC power source and/or by various batteries including rechargeable batteries.

In another aspect of the present invention, a toilet ventilation system may also include various auxiliary members in order to control various physical and/or chemical properties and/or qualities of air dispensed therefrom. Still referring to FIG. 3, the exemplary ventilation system 100 may include other auxiliary members such as, e.g., at least one filter member, at least one dehydration (or dehumidifying) member, at least one air treatment member, at least one sound member, at least one control member, and the like, details of which are to be described as follows.

The ventilation system 100 may incorporate at least one filter member 500 at least a portion of which may be disposed along an airway or air path which includes the airway member 200, coupling member 300, and their various units. Such a filter member 500 generally includes at least one layer of at least one active ingredient capable of removing various odorous substances from contaminated air flowing therethrough by various chemical and/or physical mechanisms. Examples of such ingredients may include, but not be limited to, activated charcoals, ashes, and/or other chemical adsorbents which adsorb the odorous substances by chemical adsorption, conventional adsorbents which adsorb such substances by physical adsorption, conventional absorbents capable of absorbing such substances, chemically active substances capable of reacting with the odorous substances to destroy or degrade the odorous substances, and the like. In the alternative, the filter member 500 may also be arranged to physically separate the odorous particles by various physical separation methods, examples of which may include, but not be limited to, physical filtration employing conventional or chemically active filters, physical separation using centrifugal separation devices and/or electrical precipitation devices, and so on. The filter member 500 may also be arranged to photochemically degrade the odorous substances through various photochemical reactions by, e.g., irradiating electromagnetic waves such as UV light rays. The filter member 500 may also be processed to form various structures and incorporated into the ventilation system 100. Examples of such structures may include, but not be limited to, a packed column of powder, granules, and/or pellets, a bag including such powder, granules, and/or pellets, a screen, a mesh, a woven fabric structure, and a paper-like structure, where an exact shape and/or size of such a structure is generally not material to the scope of this invention as long as such a filter member 500 may be able to remove a preset amount of such odorous substances at or over a preset rate from the contaminated air.

It is appreciated that the filter member 500 may become a necessary element of the ventilation system 100 when such a system 100 is designed to recirculate the contaminated air by removing the odorous substances therefrom and then by returning the substantially odor-free air to a space where the toilet is placed. In such an embodiment, performance of the ventilation system 100 may be deemed mainly determined by a capability of the pump member 400 as well as a capacity of the filter member 500 so that the pump member 400 preferably has a pumping rate high enough to prevent the odorous air from escaping the toilet cavity 21 and that the filter member 500 also has a removal efficiency high enough to effectively and efficiently remove at least a substantial portion of the odorous substances from the contaminated air flowing therethrough. Accordingly, it is preferred that the filter member 500 be shaped and/or sized to generate less pneumatic resistance to increase or at least maintain air flow rate therethrough, while providing as greater a contact area between its active ingredients and the air contaminated with the odorous substances to enhance its removal efficiency. However, when such a ventilation system 100 is designed to discharge the odorous air directly to atmosphere and/or other external exit, the filter member 500 need not be included and the performance of the ventilation system 100 becomes mainly a function of the pumping capability of the pump member 400.

The ventilation system 100 may include at least one dehydration or dehumidifying member 510 at least a portion of which may be disposed along an airway or air path which may include the airway member 200, coupling member 300, and their various units. The dehydration member 510 is generally arranged to remove moisture from the odorous air and/or odor-free air flowing therethrough and/or to decrease humidity of such air, e.g., by removing water molecules from such air and/or by increasing temperature thereof. Accordingly, such a dehydration member 510 may include at least one layer of at least one active ingredient capable of removing water molecules from such air flowing therethrough by the chemical and/or physical mechanisms which are similar to those described in conjunction with the filter member 500 hereinabove. In addition, the dehydration member 510 may be arranged to have various structures similar to those of the filter member 500 as long as such a member 510 may be able to remove a preset amount of water molecules at or over a preset rate from the contaminated or odor-free air. Such a dehydration member 510 is preferably disposed in an upstream of the filter member 500 in order to enhance filtering efficiency and/or to prolong a life of the active ingredients of the filter member 500, although such a member 510 may also be disposed in other locations along the airway and/or coupling members 200.

It is appreciated that the dehydration member 510 is generally not deemed an essential element of the ventilation system 100. However, situations may arise when the dehydration member 510 may have to be incorporated along the airway and/or air path, e.g., when the presence of moisture in the contaminated air may adversely affect the performance and/or life of the active ingredients included in the filter member 500, when the presence of the moisture may shorten the life of or adversely affect the performance of the pump member 400 by an oxidative degradation, and so on. In such cases, the dehydration member 510 may be disposed in an upstream of the filter and/or pump members 500, 400 to remove the moisture from air passing therethrough.

The ventilation system 100 may further include at least one air treatment member 510 at least a portion of which may be disposed along an airway or air path which may include the airway member 200, coupling member 300, and their various units. The air treatment member 520 is typically arranged to store fragrant substances therein and to release the substances into air flowing therethrough such that an unpleasant odor of the odorous substances which are not filtered by the above filter member 500 may be suppressed or camouflaged. The air treatment member 520 may be arranged so that the fragrant substances may be evaporated into air flowing therethrough, may be sprayed into such air, may be heat-evaporated by an auxiliary heater, and so on. The air treatment member 520 may also be arranged to have various structures similar to those of the filter and/or dehydration members 500, 510 and/or may be arranged as a solution or gel as long as such an air treatment member 520 may be able to add such fragrant substances into the air flowing therethrough. When desirable, the air treatment member 520 may include antibacterial, antiviral, and/or other hygienic substances to kill germs inside the bathroom. It is noted that the air treatment member 520 is preferably disposed in a downstream of the filter member 500 such that the fragrant and/or hygienic substances are unnecessarily adsorbed or absorbed by the active ingredients of the filter member 500.

A sound member 530 may also be incorporated into the ventilation system 100 of this invention so that the sound member 530 may play prerecorded sounds so as to camouflage unpleasant sounds accompanying urination or defecation. When desirable, the prerecorded sounds of the sound member 530 may be arranged to be similar to the unpleasant sounds such as, e.g., sounds of a water stream, a river, and/or a waterfall, sounds of volcanic eruption, those of machine guns, and so on, in order to better camouflage the unpleasant sounds. The sound member 530 may be arranged to allow an user to select and play one or more of the prerecorded sounds of his or her choice and may also include a volume control unit which allows the user to control an amplitude of the sound played thereby. Such a sound member 530 may also be arranged to be manually and/or automatically activated, e.g., when it receives an user input command, when it senses a presence of the user in a vicinity of the ventilation system 100, when it senses the user to dispose or move the toilet seat 50 on top of the toilet base 20, when it senses the user sitting on the toilet seat 50, when it senses the user to dispose or move the toilet lid 60 away from the toilet seat 50 and/or to its open position, when it senses an activation of the pump member 400, and so on. In addition, the sound member 530 may play the sound selected by the user more than once so that the sound member 530 may play one or more selected sounds once, for a preset number of times, and/or for a preset period. In the alternative, the sound member 530 may play the sounds continuously until it receives another user input command, may play different sounds consecutively according to an order of such sounds stored therein, and the like. The sound member 530 may further be arranged to be turned off by any events which may be opposite to the foregoing events, after a preset period from an onset of its operation, in a preset period after the user departs from the toilet, in a preset period after the user flushes the toilet, and the like. The sound member 530 may also allow the user to adjust a volume of its sound and/or automatically control such a volume in accordance with a preset algorithm and/or with various operational parameters, where examples of such parameters may include, but not be limited to, defecating and/or urinating sounds monitored by a sound sensor, concentration of the odorous substances in the contaminated water in the toilet cavity measured by various liquid concentration sensors, concentration of such substances in the air in the toilet cavity measured by various gas concentration sensors, and so on. The sound member 530 may also be arranged to play various sounds which may be selected randomly and/or which may match the urinating and/or defecating sounds measured inside the toilet cavity.

The ventilation system 100 may include at least one control member 600 arranged to control a variety of operations of various members and/or units of such a system 100. For example, the control member 600 may be arranged to control engagement and/or disengagement of the pump member 400 and/or its pumping rate. As described above, the control member 600 may be arranged to be primarily controlled by the user or may include various sensors to automatically turn on or off the pump member 400 by detecting the presence and/or absence of the user in the vicinity of the ventilation system 100 and/or in (or near) a preset location with respect to such a system 100. Any conventional sensors may be used for the above purposes and examples of such sensors may include, but not be limited to, ultrasound or infrared motion sensors, optical sensors using visible light rays or laser, sound sensors capable of detecting various sounds and/or noises made by the user, and so on. The control member 600 may also include various sensors to detect a force exerted on the toilet seat 50 and/or toilet base 20 to turn on or off the pump member 400 using conventional force transducers, accelerometers, and the like. In the alternative, various motion and/or position sensors may be incorporated into the control member 600 to monitor positions and/or movements of various parts of the toilet and/or the ventilation system 100. For example and as will be described in greater detail below, the pump member 400 may be turned on and off when the toilet seat 50 is placed respectively on top of and away from the toilet base 20, when the toilet lid 60 is placed respectively away from and on top of the toilet seat 50, when an angle formed between the toilet seat 50 and the toilet lid 60 respectively exceeds and falls short of a preset value, when an angle formed between the toilet seat 50 and toilet base 20 respectively falls short of and exceeds a preset value, and so on. Once the pump member 400 is engaged, the control member 600 may be arranged to keep the pump member 400 running until the user may supply another user input command to terminate the operation of the pump member 400, until the user stands up from the toilet seat 59, until the user flushes the toilet, until various sensors detect a departure of the user from the toilet, and the like. Alternatively, the control member 600 may include a timer to automatically turn off the pump member 400, e.g., after a preset period from an onset of the operation of the pump member 400, in a preset period after the user departs from the toilet, in a preset period after the user flushes the toilet, and the like. The control member 600 and/or pump member 400 may be operatively coupled to various fixtures of the bathroom such that the pump member 400 may start or terminate its pumping operation when a light switch moves respectively to its on- and off-positions. Such a control member 600 may also be arranged to allow the user to adjust a speed and/or volumetric pumping rate of the pump member 400 and/or to automatically control such a flow rate in accordance with various operational parameters examples of which may include, but not limited to, defecating and/or urinating sounds monitored by a sound sensor, concentration of the odorous substances in the contaminated water in the toilet cavity measured by conventional liquid concentration sensors, concentration of the odorous substances in the air in the toilet cavity measured by various gas concentration sensors, and so on.

The control member 600 may also be arranged to synchronize operations of various auxiliary members with those of the pump member 400 and/or various sensors of the ventilation system 100. For example, the control member 600 may control the sound member 530 to start to play one or more prerecorded sounds simultaneously with and/or in a preset period after an onset of the operation of the pump member 400, and to stop playing such sounds simultaneously with and/or in another preset period after a termination of the operation of the pump member 400. In another example, the control member 600 may manipulate air flow and/or its rate through the airway and/or coupling members 200, 300, e.g., by opening, closing, and/or metering various on-off valves, metering valves, and/or control valves disposed along such members 200, 300, by manipulating rpm of the pump member 400, and so on. In addition, the ventilation system 100 may include flaps, guards, and/or other air flow controllers and the control member 600 may be arranged to control operations of such in order to manipulate the air flow and its rate.

Although not shown in the figure, the ventilation system 100 may also various arrangements to reduce noise originating from the pump member 400, due to mechanical vibration of various members and/or units of the ventilation system 100, due to such vibration of various parts of the toilet, and the like. For example, conventional materials capable of absorbing such noise and/or mechanical vibration may be disposed around and/or along the pump member 400 and other members and/or units of such a ventilation system 100 in order to prevent noise to propagate into a surrounding environment, where such materials may be fabricated in various forms examples of which may include, but not be limited to, pads, linings, foams, fillers, and so on. In addition, conventional elastic materials may be inserted in various coupling locations along the ventilation system 100 to reduce the vibration of various members and/or units of the ventilation system 100. Moreover, anti-noise devices capable of generating waves inverse to the noises may also be used to compensate for such noises.

In operation, the airway and coupling members 200, 300 are incorporated into various parts of the toilet. For example, the Inlet unit 210 of the airway member 300 is disposed below or around the toilet seat 50 so as to form fluid communication with air inside the toilet cavity 21. The outlet unit 250 is connected to an exit such as the atmosphere, a vent leading to the atmosphere, and/or the bathroom. The first inlet end 231 of the first channel unit 230 is releasably, movably or fixedly coupled to the inlet unit 210, whereas the second outlet end 242 of the second channel unit 240 is releasably, movably or fixedly attached to the outlet unit 250. The coupling member 300 is then disposed between and fluidly connected to the first outlet end 232 of the first channel unit 230 and the second inlet end 241 of the second channel unit 240. The pump member 400 is functionally incorporated along the airway and/or coupling members 200, 300, and the auxiliary members such as the filter member 500, the dehydration member 510, the air treatment member 520, the sound member 530, and the control member 600 are incorporated into appropriate positions of the ventilation system. Thereafter, the coupling member 300 is moved to or positioned in on-closed position by, e.g., moving the toilet cover 50 and/or toilet lid 60, and the pump member 400 is manually or automatically turned on, thereby displacing the odorous air from the toilet cavity 21 to the exit through the outlet unit 250. After use, the pump member 400 may be turned off manually or automatically or, alternatively, the coupling member 300 may be moved to or positioned in its off-position by moving the toilet cover 50 and/or lid 60.

As described hereinabove, it is generally preferred that at least a portion of the filter member 500, dehydration member 510, air treatment member 520, sound member 530, and/or control member 600 be incorporated into the airway and/or coupling members 200, 300 by, e.g., embedding, fixedly coupling, and/or detachably coupling such a portion of the foregoing members into the airway and/or coupling members 200, 300. More preferably, the entire portion of such members 500-600 may be incorporated into the airway and/or coupling members 200, 300. The latter embodiment of the present invention offers an advantage over the prior art toilet ventilation systems which may generally include at least one component placed external to, around, and/or behind the toilet. For example, the prior art pumps are generally placed behind the toilet base and/or below the water reservoir, and connected to airways by a thin and long plastic tubing. Such an embodiment has posed a great challenge when the prior art ventilation systems must be incorporated into a tiny toilet and/or installed in a small bathroom. In addition, the plastic tubing is generally disposed around various parts of the toilet, thereby not only interfering with efficient handling or cleaning but also diminishing the overall aesthetics of the toilet. In contrary, the foregoing ventilation system of the present invention incorporates at least a substantial portion of its airway and/or coupling members to the toilet seat 50 and/or lid 60. No members and/or units of the ventilation system of the present invention are required to be placed external to the airway and/or coupling members 200, 300. Therefore, such a ventilation system of the present invention not only obviates the aforementioned installation problems associated with its prior art counterparts but also maintains and enhances the toilet aesthetics.

In another aspect of the present invention, the foregoing members and/or units thereof may be fixedly, movably, and/or detachably incorporated into various parts of a toilet. First, FIG. 4A shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary ventilation arranged to be fitted into an existing toilet according to the present invention. An exemplary ventilation system 100 includes an airway member 200 which in turn includes an inlet unit 210 and an outlet unit 250. Such an inlet unit 210 includes an inlet body 211 shaped as a closed loop and defining multiple inlet openings 212 therearound at a preset distance or interval, while the outlet unit 250 includes an outlet body 251 in which the pump member 400 and other auxiliary members may be disposed and defines an outlet opening 252 through which contaminated air may be disposed to an exit. In one exemplary embodiment, the inlet and outlet units 210, 250 may be fixedly (or movably) and directly coupled to each other. In another exemplary embodiment, such units 210, 250 may be coupled to each other by the foregoing coupling member which is not included in the figure for simplicity of illustration. As will be described in greater detail below, the airway member 200 may include multiple channel units (not shown in the figure) between the inlet and outlet units 210, 250 and the coupling member may be arranged to allow translational and/or rotational movement of one of the units 210-250 with respect to the other thereof. Still referring to FIG. 4A, the airway member 200 may be shaped and/or sized to be movably or detachably coupled to and/or between various parts of the toilet. For example, the inlet unit 210 may be disposed between the toilet seat and a top portion of the toilet base while arranging the inlet openings 212 oriented into the toilet cavity so that the odorous air may be taken in by the pump member 400 through such inlet openings 212. The outlet unit 250 may be disposed in almost any location on, below or around various parts of the toilet, on a bathroom floor or at a distance from the toilet as long as such disposition does not obstruct the operation of the toilet ventilation system 100 and the ordinary use of the toilet and/or bathroom.

Secondly, various members and/or units of the ventilation system 100 may be movably, fixedly, and/or detachably incorporated into different parts of the toilet. Following FIGS. 4B and 4C illustrate a few exemplary embodiments of such ventilation systems of this invention. For example, FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram of an exemplary portion of a ventilation system which is implemented into a toilet lid according to the present invention. In this exemplary embodiment, an outlet unit 250 is incorporated into a front and/or a rear of a toilet lid 60 in such an arrangement that its outlet body 251 is disposed in a center of the toilet lid 60, its outlet opening 252 may extend upwardly from the outlet body 251, while an opposing opening 253 may extend downwardly from the outlet body 251. More particularly, such an opposing opening 253 may preferably be shaped, sized, and/or disposed in order to couple with at least one opening of an inlet unit and/or a coupling member both of which are not shown in the figure for simplicity of illustration. Similar to the previous embodiment, the outlet body 251 may also define an internal space in which the pump member 400 and/or auxiliary members may be disposed. Another exemplary embodiment is described in FIG. 4C which is a schematic diagram of an exemplary portion of a ventilation system implement d to a toilet seat according to the present invention. An inlet 210 of this exemplary embodiment is generally similar to that of FIG. 4A, except that such an inlet unit 210 is typically embedded inside a toilet seat 50. More particularly, an inlet body 211 of such an inlet unit 210 is disposed inside the toilet seat 50 not to be exposed therethrough, while multiple inlet openings 212 of the inlet unit 210 are oriented toward a center aperture 51 of the toilet seat 50 and disposed to be in fluid communication with air in the toilet cavity. Therefore, such inlet openings 212 may be arranged to be flush with an outer surface of the toilet seat 50, to protrude out of such an outer surface, and/or to extend inwardly and beyond such an outer surface. In addition, the inlet unit 210 includes an opposite opening 213 which is shaped, sized, and/or disposed so as to couple with at least one opening of an outlet unit and/or coupling member both of which are not shown in the figure for the sake of simplicity of illustration. It is appreciated that the inlet unit 210 may form an inlet body in which the pump member and/or other auxiliary members may be disposed. In such an embodiment, the outlet unit 250 may not include the foregoing outlet body.

Thirdly, at least a substantial or an entire portion of the ventilation system 100 may be movably, fixedly, and/or detachably incorporated into different parts of the toilet. Following FIGS. 4D and 4D are a few exemplary embodiments of such ventilation systems of the present invention. For example, FIG. 4D is a schematic diagram of an exemplary ventilation system implemented into a toilet lid according to the present invention. Such a ventilation system 100 includes an airway member 200 with an inlet unit 210 and an outlet unit 250 and a coupling member 300. The inlet unit 210 includes a pair of inlet bodies 211A, 211B which are arranged in an approximately parallel mode and each of which defines an inlet opening 212A, 212B in its distal or upstream end. Such inlet openings 212A, 212B are also oriented to face each other such that, when disposed around the toilet cavity, the odorous air may be taken in by the pump member 400 therethrough. The inlet bodies 211A, 211B also defines opposing ends coupled to a pair of couplers of the coupling member 300 which in turn couples with the outlet unit 250. Such an outlet unit 250 is similar to that of FIG. 4B, however, is fixedly, movably, and/or detachably coupled to a toilet lid 60 so that the outlet unit 250 moves in unison with the toilet lid 60. Moreover, the coupling member 300 disposed between the inlet and outlet units 210, 250 is preferably arranged to allow one of such units 210, 250 to translate and/or rotate with respect to the other thereof such that an angle formed between the inlet and outlet units 210, 250 may vary according to a relative position of one of such units 210, 250 with respect to the other of such units 210, 250. The outlet unit 250 defines an outlet body 251 in which a pump member 400 (and/or other auxiliary members) may be disposed. The outlet unit 250 is generally fixedly or detachably coupled to a front and/or rear of the toilet lid 60 or, in the alternative, may be embedded on, over, and/or into the toilet lid 60 to form an unitary article. Thus, in any of these embodiments, such an outlet unit 250 may move in unison with the toilet lid 50. Such a ventilation system 100 may be used for the toilet by coupling the toilet lid 60 to the toilet seat 50 and/or toilet base 20 and by disposing the inlet unit 210 between the toilet seat 50 and base 20. Accordingly, the coupling member 300 is preferably arranged to rotate angularly so as to accommodate movements of the toilet lid 60 relative to the toilet seat 50. The inlet member 210 may be fixedly coupled to and/or stationarily disposed on the toilet base 20 or, alternatively, detachably coupled to the toilet seat 50 in order to move therewith. Another exemplary embodiment is shown in FIG. 4E which is a schematic diagram of an exemplary ventilation system which is implemented into a toilet seat according to the present invention. Such a ventilation system 100 includes an airway member 200 comprising an inlet unit 210 and an outlet unit 250. The inlet unit 210 is generally similar to that of FIG. 4C, except that the inlet unit 210 of such an embodiment defines an inlet body 211 disconnected in its middle to form an U-shaped air path. The inlet unit 210 is coupled to an outlet body 251 of the outlet unit 250 in a location approximately opposite to a disconnected portion of the air path. The outlet unit 250 includes an outlet body 251 in which a pump member 400 (and/or other auxiliary members) is disposed. Such an outlet unit 250 may be disposed in various embodiments. For example, the outlet body 251 may be fixedly or detachably coupled directly to the toilet seat 50 to move in unison therewith. In such an embodiment, the ventilation system 100 may not require any coupling member. Alternatively, the outlet body 251 is coupled to the inlet unit 210 and, therefore, indirectly coupled to the toilet seat 50. In this embodiment, an optional coupling member may also be disposed between the inlet and outlet units 210, 250 in order to allow movements of one of such units 210, 250. In the alternative, the outlet body 251 may also be fixedly or detachably coupled to the toilet base 20, optional water reservoir, and/or other parts of the toilet and/or bathroom. In such an embodiment, a coupling member may not only be disposed between the inlet and outlet units 210, 250 but also be arranged to allow movements of the inlet unit 210 while maintaining fluid communication between the inlet and outlet units 210, 250.

It is to be understood that the performance and efficiency of the ventilation system 100 of the present invention is related to how effectively the pump member 400 may discharge the contaminated or odorous air from the toilet cavity 21. Although such performance and efficiency may generally be determined by the pumping capacity of the pump member 400, they are also affected by pneumatic or hydraulic resistances along various air paths of the airway and/or coupling members 200, 300. When such air paths have a significant pneumatic or hydraulic resistance, the pump member 400 may have to be able to develop a greater pressure difference thereacross to compensate such resistance and may generate a louder noise during its operation. Therefore, the airway member 200 and/or coupling member 300 may preferably be shaped and/or sized in order to minimize such resistance therealong.

In such an aspect of the present invention, the airway and/or coupling members 200, 300 may preferably be arranged to have substantially identical and/or similar cross-sectional areas along their longitudinal axes. That is, all of inlet unit 210, channel units 220, 230, 240, outlet unit 250 of the airway member 200 and coupling member 300 may be shaped and/or sized to have the cross-sectional areas which fall within preset ranges. In one example, the cross-sectional areas of the foregoing units and members may be maintained at least substantially identical to each other, although their exact shapes may vary from location to location. Alternatively, such cross-sectional areas may be arranged to vary but not beyond a certain range such that the greatest cross-sectional area does not deviate from the smallest cross-sectional area, e.g., by no more than 3%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45%, 50%, 75%, 100% or more. Accordingly, the resistance along the foregoing units 210-250 and members 200, 300 may be maintained at its minimum, a higher efficiency may be attained by the pump member 400 with a preset capacity, and/or the pump member 400 may be required to have the least capacity and to generate the least noise for a given load such as, e.g., a predetermined air suction rate. In addition, by preventing sudden changes in the cross-sectional areas, unnecessary pressure drop due to an abrupt contraction and/or expansion thereof may be avoided. It is appreciated that this aspect of the present invention may be assessed preferably by measuring the cross-sectional areas from an immediate upstream of the pump member 400 to an immediate downstream of a distal end of the inlet unit 210. In another aspect of the present invention, the inlet unit 210, channel units 220, 230, 240, outlet unit 250 of the airway member 200 and the coupling member 300 may be arranged to have identical or at least substantially similar shapes. In addition, such units 210-250 and/or members 200, 300 may be preferably arranged to have the cross-sectional shapes with aspect ratios greater than 1.0, e.g., 1.25, 1.5, 1.75, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0, 7.0 or 8.0, where the aspect ratio as used herein may be defined as a ratio of a horizontal dimension of the cross-sectional shape to its vertical dimension. In general, the airway member 200 and its various units 210-250 and/or the coupling member 300 may have substantially rectangular shapes or substantially oblong oval shapes in order to construct a flat ventilation system 100 which may require less space for installation and be easier to be incorporated into and/or coupled to various parts of the toilet. It is appreciated again that this aspect of the present invention may be assessed preferably by measuring various cross-sectional areas from an immediate upstream of the pump member 400 to an immediate downstream of a distal end of the inlet unit 210. In another aspect of this invention, the airway member 200, its units 210-250, and coupling member 300 may be arranged to have a pneumatic or hydraulic resistance which causes a viscous pressure drop not exceeding a preset percentage of another pressure drop capable of being generated by the pump member 40 which operates at a given condition without coupling with any of the airway and coupling members 200, 300 in its upstream and/or downstream. For example, the airway member 200 including its various units 210-250 and the coupling member 300 may be arranged to have an overall resistance which causes the pressure drop corresponding to less than, e.g., 2%, 3%, 5%, 7%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45% or 50% of the pressure drop which is capable of being generated by the pump member 40 between its inlet opening and atmosphere to take in air thereinto or to discharge air therefrom. It is to be understood that such an aspect of this invention may be assessed preferably by measuring such pressure drops from an immediate upstream of the pump member 400 to an immediate downstream of a very distal end of the inlet unit 210 and by operating such a pump member 400 in its medium or middle range of power. In yet another aspect of this invention, the airway member 200 and its units 210-250 and the coupling member 300 may also be arranged to cause a viscous energy loss which does not exceed a preset percentage of a mechanical energy generated by the pump member 400 operating at a preset condition. For example, the airway member 200 including its units 210-250 and coupling member 300 may be arranged to cause an overall viscous energy loss corresponding to less than, e.g., 2%, 3%, 5%, 7%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, 40%, 45% or 50% of the energy capable of being generated by such a pump member 400. It is to be understood that such an aspect of this invention may be assessed preferably by measuring the viscous and mechanical energy when the pump member 400 operates in its medium or middle range of power.

It is to be understood that a reference may be needed in assessing the above cross-sectional areas, aspect ratios, pressure drops, and/or energy when the airway and/or coupling members 200, 300 may bifurcate and/or form multiple branches therealong. In such cases, it is generally preferred that such cross-sectional areas, aspect ratios, pressure drops, and/or energy be assessed between the immediate upstream of the pump member 400 and a location in the airway or coupling member 200, 300 immediately downstream of the bifurcating and/or branching point. In the alternative, such cross-sectional areas, aspect ratios, pressure drops, and/or energy may further be assessed by adding up the cross-sectional areas, lengths, heights, pressure drops, and/or energy associated with each of such branches of the airway and/or coupling members 200, 300 and then by obtaining a total cross-sectional area, an effective aspect ratio (which may be defined herein as a ratio of a total length to a total height of the airway and/or coupling members 200, 300), a total pressure drop, and/or a total loss of energy. It is also to be understood that the above cross-sectional areas, aspect ratios, pressure drops, and/or energy may preferably be assessed with a reference to the immediate downstream of the very distal end of the inlet unit 210. Therefore, one or multiple inlet openings provided at the distal end of the inlet unit 210 for taking the odorous air into the inlet unit 210 may generally not be taken into account when calculating such cross-sectional areas, aspect ratios, pressure drops, and/or energy. When the pump member 400 includes couplers and/or internal air paths and when at least a portion of the airway and/or coupling members 200, 300 has to be expanded or contracted to fit to the couplers, cross-sectional areas, aspect ratios, pressure drops, and/or mechanical energy loss associated with such couplers, internal paths, and such a portion of the airway and/or coupling members 200, 300 are also not taken into account.

The ventilation system 100 conforming to these aspects of the present invention offers a major advantage over the prior art counterparts. For example, prior art toilet ventilation devices include two or three separate air channels connected to each other by appropriate connections. To economize or minimize installation space, such connections tend to be made of flexible tubing which is relatively thin compared with other parts of such ventilation devices. Therefore, the connections and tubing provide a significant amount of hydraulic resistance and result in a significant pressure drop therethrough. In order to compensate such a loss, the prior art ventilation devices have to employ various pumps with greater capacity at the cost of a higher price and louder noise. To the contrary, by embedding and/or coupling at least a portion of the airway and/or coupling members 200, 300 to the toilet seat and/or lid 50, 60, the above toilet ventilation systems of the present invention may obviate the need for external connections between the airway and coupling members 200, 300, thereby allowing air pathways of the ventilation system 100 to include internal air pathways having cross-sectional areas substantially similar to those of the ventilation system 100 itself. Accordingly, the foregoing ventilation systems 100 allow attainment of a maximum allowable cross-sectional area of an internal air pathway (such as the cross-sectional areas of the airway and/or coupling members 200, 300), cause the least pneumatic or hydraulic resistance therethrough, and cause the least viscous energy loss therealong. Moreover, a shape-sensitive pneumatic or hydraulic resistance along such members 200, 300 may be minimized by maintaining, e.g., substantially identical or similar cross-sectional shapes throughout the airway and/or coupling members 200, 300. For example, unnecessary pressure drops due to sudden expansion or contraction in the internal cross-sectional areas may be minimized. Accordingly, the overall hydraulic or pneumatic resistance of the ventilation system 100 may be maintained at the minimum level and the pump member 400 with a smaller capacity may suffice to displace a predetermined amount of air from the toilet cavity 21 at a predetermined speed, thereby reducing the noise associated with operation of the pump member 400 at the minimum level as well.

Configurational and/or operational variations and/or modifications of the above exemplary toilet ventilation systems and various members and units thereof which have been discussed hereinabove and which will be described heretofore also fall within the scope of this invention.

The airway member and its inlet, channel, and/or outlet units may be arranged to have various shapes and/or sizes according to a variety of embodiments as long as they may satisfy the foregoing requirements for the cross-sectional areas, aspect ratios, pressure drops, and/or energy. In addition, the airway member may include one or more inlet, channel, and/or outlet units which may be coupled to each other in a series and/or parallel arrangement and which may also be arranged to be straight or curved. Detailed configuration and/or disposition of such an airway member and its units are typically governed by a space requirement (i.e., a space available around and/or between various parts of the toilet) and, therefore, are typically not critical to the scope of the present invention as far as the above requirements for the cross-sectional areas, aspect ratios, pressure drops, and/or energy may be met. Similarly, the coupling member may also be arranged to have various shapes and/or sizes according to various embodiments as long as they also meet the foregoing requirements for the cross-sectional areas, aspect ratios, pressure drops, and/or energy. Accordingly, various ends or couplers of such a coupling member are preferably designed not to form a sudden expansion or contraction and not to cause any unnecessary pressure drop thereacross. The coupling member may also be formed to be straight or curved and may include multiple branches which may be connected to each other and/or to the inlet, channel or outlet unit of the airway member in a series and/or parallel arrangement. Detailed configuration and/or disposition of the coupling member are typically governed, e.g., by arrangements and/or configurations of various units of the airway member to be coupled thereby and/or by a space requirement (i.e., a space available around and/or between various parts of the toilet) and, therefore, are typically not critical to the scope of the present invention as far as the above requirements for the cross-sectional areas, aspect ratios, pressure drops, and/or energy may be met.

It is appreciated that the foregoing channel unit of the airway member may be utilized to serve as the coupling member or, conversely, the foregoing coupling member may be utilized to serve as the channel unit of the airway member. As used in the present invention, however, it is preferred that the channel unit be stationary and not mobile whether it may be either straight or curved, whereas such a coupling member be stationary or mobile and straight or curved. More particularly, the mobile coupling member may be comprised of multiple couplers at least on of which may be arranged to rotate, pivot, translate or otherwise move with respect to the other(s). Accordingly, a straight or curved stationary air pathway disposed between the inlet and outlet units of the airway member may serve as either the channel unit or coupling member, whereas a straight or curved mobile air pathway disposed between such units is preferably classified as the coupling member. It is further appreciated that, regardless of the foregoing distinctions, disposition of an air pathway may determine whether the air pathway may be a part of the channel unit or coupling member, because classification of such an air pathway does not affect functional characteristics of the ventilation system of the present invention. Accordingly, it is plausible to provide the ventilation system with the airway member consisting of a single unitary air pathway defining the inlet opening(s) in one end and the outlet opening(s) in its other end. In such an embodiment, the ventilation system may be deemed to include neither the channel unit nor the coupling member. Conversely, the ventilation system may instead include the airway and coupling members in which multiple channel units and stationary or mobile couplers may be arranged in a variety of orders.

Similarly, the inlet and/or outlet units may include one or more inlet and/or outlet bodies in which one or more of the pump member and/or auxiliary members may be disposed. Such inclusion (or even omission) of the inlet and/or outlet bodies in the inlet and/or outlet units is generally a matter of choice of one skilled in the art and typically determined by a space available in and/or around various parts of the toilet. Thus, as exemplified in the above figures, the pump and auxiliary members may be disposed in the outlet body of the outlet unit. When desirable, however, an inlet body may be arranged to form an internal space in which one or more of the above pump and auxiliary members may be disposed. Alternatively, both of the pump and auxiliary members may be disposed external to the inlet and outlet units as well.

As described hereinabove, various members and/or their units of the ventilation system may be coupled to each other and/or to various parts of the toilet by various embodiments. For example, the airway and coupling members may be fixedly coupled to each other in order to form the ventilation system occupying a fixed space. Such a ventilation system may be stationarily disposed or may also be movably disposed, e.g., to move with the toilet lid or toilet seat as respectively exemplified in FIGS. 4D and 4E. Alternatively, the airway and coupling members may be detachably coupled to each other so that the inlet and/or outlet units may be implemented into different parts of the toilet and the coupling member is disposed between such units to provide fluid communication therebetween and/or to allow optional movements of one unit with respect to the other. Such a ventilation system may generally be incorporated into a preexisting toilet by attaching various members and/or units of the system into the same or different parts of the toilet. In the alternative, different members and/or units of the ventilation system may be embedded into and/or fixedly coupled to the same or different parts of the toilet so that the ventilation system is assembled by assembling the toilet itself.

When a portion of the airway member is arranged to move relative to other portions thereof in response to movements of various parts of the toilet or to move along with such parts of the toilet, the coupling member is arranged to accommodate movements of the mobile portion of the airway member while maintaining fluid communication between such different portions of the airway member. In on exemplary embodiment, the coupling member may be made of an elastic or flexible tubing and/or may include a bellow which may bend or otherwise deform in response to the movements of such a mobile portion of the airway member. In another embodiment, the coupling member may include an inner rotor coupled to one of the inlet and outlet units and an outer rotor coupled to the other of such units. Such rotors are arranged to be disposed concentrically while isolating an internal space formed inside such an inner rotor from atmosphere. By arranging one of the rotors to rotate about the other while keeping fluid communication between the inlet and outlet units, such coupling member accommodates various movements of the inlet and/or outlet units. In another embodiment, the coupling member is arranged to include at least one coupler arranged to move between an on-position and an off-position, where the coupler provides fluid communication between the inlet and outlet units in its on-position and breaks or disrupts at least a portion of such fluid communication therebetween in its off-position. Further details of such coupling members will be described below in conjunction with FIGS. 5A to 5C and 6A to 6C.

Various members and/or their units of such a ventilation system may also be modularized and detachably coupled to each other such that they may be readily replaced and/or refilled. For example, a modular pump member may be readily replaced by a new member, while various auxiliary members may be disposed and replaced by new ones and/or refilled and put back for further use. In particular, the filter, dehydration, and/or air treatment members may be constructed as disposable articles so that the user may disengage and discard the used members and load new ones. Alternatively, such filter, dehydration, and/or air treatment members may also include cartridges and/or bags filled with various active ingredients for removing the odorous substances and/or moisture and/or for adding fragrance into an air stream passing therethrough, where used cartridges and/or bags may be replaced by new cartridges and/or bags. Moreover, the filter or dehydration members may be formed as regeneratable articles which may be reactivated by, e.g., heating, drying, and/or other conventional methods known in the art.

In general, disposition of various members of the toilet ventilation system is a matter of choice of one of ordinary skill in the art. It is, however, preferred that the air treatment member be disposed in a downstream of the filter member such that the fragrant substances are not removed by the active ingredients in the filter member and the dehydration member be disposed in an upstream of the pump and/or filter members to avoid degradation of the pump and/or filter members and to prolong the life of such members. When desirable, at least one bypass air path may be provided around one or more of such auxiliary members to transport the odorous air without transporting therethrough. For example, a bypass air path may be provided around the filter member and a selector such as a three-way valve is disposed to allow the user to select whether the air taken from the toilet cavity may pass through or bypass the filter member. Such a selector may be manipulated manually by the user and/or controlled by the control member which may detect whether the use defecates, urinates or otherwise uses the toilet and may selectively turn on the pump member and/or pass the air inside the toilet cavity through the filter member only when the user defecates. A similar bypass air path and selector may also be provided to the dehydration and/or air treatment members in order to remove moisture and/or to add various substances to the air flowing therethrough. It is appreciated that the bypass air paths may be provided as additional air paths external to those of the inlet and/or other units of the airway member or may be disposed inside such units as well. Instead of the above bypass air paths and selectors, a blocker may be disposed in such a member and arranged to allow or prevent the active ingredients to contact the air flowing therethrough. Therefore, when it is not necessary or desirable to flow the air through such a member, the blocker may be moved to its off-position to prevent contact between the air and active ingredients inside the member. Conversely, the user may move the blocker back to its on-position to flow the air through such a member.

The ventilation system may further include multiple airway members, multiple inlet and/or outlet units thereof, multiple coupling members, and/or multiple pump members which may be connected to each other in a parallel and/or series arrangement. In such an embodiment, multiple air paths may be provided along the ventilation system and one or more coupling and/or pump members may have to be installed in order to effectively move the odorous air from the toilet cavity to an exit through multiple air paths. Other configurational and/or operational characteristics of the ventilation system with multiple airway, coupling, and/or pump members are generally similar to those of the system including a single airway, coupling, and/or pump members, except that the former may provide a redundant arrangement to increase the efficiency of removing the odorous air and to provide an alternate operation capability in case one of such members may malfunction.

It is to be understood that the pump member described hereinabove is typically a suction pump which is arranged to develop a negative pressure gradient along the inlet unit so that the contaminated air inside the toilet cavity may be sucked through the inlet openings, transported through the inlet unit, and discharged through the outlet opening of the outlet unit to an exit. Therefore, such a suction pump may preferably be disposed to form a portion of the air path. The pump member may instead include a blower-type pump which is generally arranged to transport air from one to the other side thereof and, accordingly, has different operational characteristics. Such a blower-type pump may be disposed to form a portion of the air path similar to the suction pump. Alternatively, the blower-type pump may be arranged to serve as an aspirator arranged to suck the odorous air by the Bernoulli principle. Thus, the blower-type pump may take in air not from the toilet cavity but from the bathroom and to flow such air through a nozzle with an aperture in fluid communication with the toilet cavity, thereby sucking the odorous from the toilet cavity by a low pressure developed near the aperture of the nozzle. Selection between the suction and blow-type pumps is a matter of choice of one of ordinary skill in the art who may consider different operational characteristics of such pumps examples of which may include, but not be limited to, their pumping capacities, power requirements, noises, and the like.

The coupling members of the ventilation system may be provided in a variety of arrangements. As described hereinabove, detailed configurations of the coupling members may be governed by the configurational and/or operational characteristics of the airway member of such a system and/or the implementation modes of such a system into various parts of the toilet. Following FIGS. 5A to 5C and 6A to 6C show a few exemplary coupling members of the present invention in which at least a portion of the ventilation system is embedded into, detachably coupled to, and/or fixedly coupled to at least a portion of the toilet.

In one aspect of the present invention, a coupling member may be arranged to operate or move between at least one on-position (or closed state) and at least one off-position (or open state), where the coupling member may be arranged to provide fluid communication between at least two units of an airway member in the on-position and to break or disrupt at least a portion of such fluid communication in the off-position. FIG. 5A shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary ventilation system including an airway member fixedly incorporated into a toilet seat and toilet lid and coupled to each other by an exemplary coupling member capable of providing and disrupting fluid communication between multiple parts of the airway member according to the present invention. An exemplary ventilation system 100 includes an airway member 200 of which an inlet unit 210 and a first channel unit 230 are detachably coupled to, fixedly coupled to or embedded into a toilet seat 50 and of which a second channel unit 240 and an outlet unit 250 are detachably coupled to, fixedly coupled to or embedded into the toilet lid 60. For simplicity of illustration, the toilet seat 50 and toilet lid 60 are shown detached from each other. The toilet seat 50 may be movably or rotatably coupled to the toilet base 20 (not shown in the figure) by a hinge 52 (shown in FIGS. 5B and 5C) and pivot thereabout between at least one (relatively) flat seat position and at least one (relatively) vertical seat position. The toilet lid 60 may also be pivotally coupled to the toilet base 20 or toilet seat 50 by a hinge 52 and arranged to rotate or pivot toward and away from the toilet base 20 and toilet seat 50 between at least one (relatively) flat lid position and at least one (relatively) vertical lid position. As shown in the figure, the inlet unit 210 is similar to those of FIGS. 4A and 4C and includes an inlet body 211 and multiple inlet openings 212 provided along the inlet body 211 at a preset interval and angularly disposed to be oriented toward a center aperture 51 of the toilet seat 50. More particularly, the inlet body 211 may be embedded into the toilet seat 50 or fixedly and/or detachably coupled thereto. The outlet unit 250 is similar to those of FIGS. 4A, 4B, and 4D, has an outlet body 251 in which a pump member and/or other auxiliary members are fixedly or disposably disposed, and defines an outlet opening 252 through which the filtered odorous air may be dispensed. More particularly, the outlet body 251 may be embedded into or fixedly and/or detachably coupled to the toilet lid 60. In such an embodiment, at least a portion of the outlet body 251 is exposed through a bottom of the toilet lid 60, the rest of the outlet body 251 is exposed through a top of the toilet lid 60, and the outlet opening 252 is provided through the toilet lid 60 to be open to the atmosphere through a front of the toilet lid 60.

The ventilation system 100 also includes a coupling unit 300 arranged to connect a proximal or downstream end of the inlet unit 210 with a distal or upstream end of the outlet unit 250. The coupling member 300 may include multiple units such as, e.g., a first coupler unit 310 and a second coupler unit 320. The first coupler unit 310 is fixedly or detachably to a first outlet end 232 of a first channel unit 230 which is in turn fixedly or detachably coupled to the toilet seat 50, while the second coupler unit 320 to is fixedly or detachably coupled to a second inlet end 241 of a second channel unit 240 which is in turn fixedly or detachably coupled to the toilet lid 60. The first and second coupler units 310, 320 are arranged to pivot toward and away from each other in response to movements and/or rotations of the toilet seat 50 and/or toilet lid 60. By providing appropriate configurations, the first coupler unit 310 may be arranged to fluidly connect with or disconnect from the second coupler unit 320. For example and as will be further explained in FIGS. 4B and 4C, the first and second coupler units 310, 320 may be arranged to render the coupling unit 300 to be in its on- and off-positions when they are rotated to or disposed at certain positions and/or when they are rotated to form certain angles therebetween.

FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view of the ventilation system along the line A-A of FIG. 5A when the coupling member is moved to or disposed in its on-position, while FIG. 5C is a cross-sectional view of the same ventilation system along the line A-A of FIG. 5A when the coupling member is moved to or disposed in its off-position according to the present invention. The first and/or second coupler units 310, 320 may be arranged to form at their ends respectively at least one first elongated structure and at least one second elongated structure, and respectively define therein at least one first air pathway 311 and at least one second air pathway 321. By moving or pivoting the toilet seat 50 and/or toilet lid 60 about the hinge 52, the first and second coupler units 310, 320 move or rotate toward and away from the other thereof along a substantially curvilinear, e.g., an arcuate trajectory. Accordingly, when the coupling member 300 is rotated to its on-position, the first and second air pathways 311, 321 may be coupled to each other, the elongated structures of the first and second coupler units 310, 320 may also be fluidly connected to each other, and the inlet unit 210 becomes in fluid communication with the outlet unit 250 of airway member 200. Accordingly, a pump member 400 may be able to draw air from the toilet cavity 21 and to discharge such air through the outlet unit 250. It is appreciated that such an on-position may correspond to the positions where the toilet seat 50 may move to or be disposed at or near its flat seat position, where the toilet lid 60 may move to or be disposed at or near its vertical lid position, and so on. In the alternative, the on-position may correspond to the positions where the toilet seat 50 and toilet lid 60 may form a threshold angle therebetween, where such a threshold angle may be greater than, e.g., 60 degrees (preferably 90 degrees) or greater, where the threshold angle may be in a range of, e.g., 60 degrees to 180 degrees. Conversely, as the coupling member 300 is rotated to its off-position, the elongated structures of the first and second coupler units 310, 320 move away or uncouple from each other, which in turn destroys or disrupts at least a portion of fluid connection between the first and second air pathways 311, 321 may be uncoupled from each other. Therefore, the fluid communication between the inlet and outlet units 210, 250 of airway member 200 may also be destroyed or disrupted and the pump member 400, even though it may operate in its full capacity, may not be able to draw air from the toilet cavity 21. It is appreciated that the off-position may correspond to such positions where the toilet seat 50 moves to or is disposed at or near its vertical seat position, where the toilet lid 60 moves to or is disposed at or near its flat lid position, and the like. Alternatively, the off-position may correspond to the positions where the toilet seat 50 and toilet lid 60 may form an angle less than the above threshold angle or outside of the range of such a threshold angle. It is to be understood that the coupling member 300 may be moved to or disposed in its on- and off-positions in different arrangements of the toilet seat 50 and/or toilet lid 60. For example, the coupling member 300 may be arranged to be in its on-position as long as the toilet seat and/or lid 50, 60 may be disposed to allow the user to use the toilet and, conversely, the coupling member 300 may be arranged to be in its off-position as long as the toilet seat and/or lid 50, 60 may be covered to deter the user from using the toilet. By the same token, when the toilet do s not include the toilet lid, the coupling member 300 may be arranged to move between its on- and off-position solely based on the movement of the toilet seat 50 between its flat and vertical seat positions respectively.

Contrary to the ventilation system of the foregoing aspect of this invention including a coupling member whose different units are arranged to attach to and detach from each other so as to form and destroy the fluid communication therebetween, the ventilation system based on another aspect of the present invention may instead include a coupling member whose different units are movably disposed to form a constant contact therebetween but arranged to form and/or destroy the fluid communication therebetween by respectively aligning and/or misaligning such units. Such a coupling member may be arranged to operate or move between at least one on-position (or closed state) and at least one off-position (or open state) in order to provide the fluid communication between at least two units of an airway member in the on-position and to break or disrupt at least a portion of such fluid communication in the off-position. FIG. 6A shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary ventilation system including an airway member fixedly incorporated into a toilet seat and lid and coupled to each other by another exemplary coupling member according to the present invention. An exemplary ventilation system 100 includes an airway member 200 of which an inlet unit 210 and a first channel unit 230 are detachably coupled to, fixedly coupled to or embedded into a toilet seat 50 and of which a second channel unit 240 and an outlet unit 250 are detachably coupled to, fixedly coupled to or embedded into the toilet lid 60, which are similar or identical to the counterparts of FIGS. 5A to 5C. For simplicity of illustration, the toilet seat 50 is shown to be detached from the toilet lid 60 and may be movably or rotatably coupled to a toilet base (not shown in the figure) by a hinge (not shown in the figure) and pivot between at least one (relatively) flat seat position and at least one (relatively) vertical seat position. The toilet lid 60 may also be pivotally coupled to the toilet base or toilet seat 50 by the hinge and arranged to rotate or pivot toward and away from the toilet base and/or the toilet seat 50 between at least one (relatively) flat lid position and at least one (relatively) vertical lid position.

The ventilation system 100 also includes a coupling unit 300 arranged to open and/or to close a fluid communication (or connection) between a proximal (or downstream) end of the inlet unit 210 and a distal (or upstream) end of the outlet unit 250. The coupling member 300 includes multiple units such as a first coupler unit 310 and a second coupler unit 320, where the first coupler unit 310 is fixedly or detachably coupled to a proximal (or downstream) end of the first channel unit 230, while the second coupler unit 320 is fixedly or detachably coupled to a distal (or upstream) end of the second channel unit 240. In addition, the first and second coupler units 310, 320 are arranged to define respectively a first opening 312 and a second opening 322, and also to movably or rotatably disposed with respect to each other by, e.g., movably or rotatably disposing at least a portion of such a first coupler unit 310 inside at least a portion of the second coupler unit 320. By providing appropriate configurations, the coupling member 300 may be arranged to open (or close) a fluid communication between the inlet and outlet units 210, 250 by moving at least one of the coupler units 310, 320 between its on-position and off-position and aligning (or misaligning) the first and second openings 312, 322, thereby opening (or closing) a fluid communication formed between such coupler units 310, 320. As will be explained in detail in FIGS. 6B and 6C, the first and second coupler units 310, 320 may be arranged to move to or to be in their on- and off-positions when they are rotated to or disposed at certain positions and/or when they are rotated to form certain angles therebetween.

FIG. 6B is a cross-sectional view of the ventilation system along the line B-B of FIG. 6A when the coupling member is moved to or disposed in its on-position and FIG. 6C is another cross-sectional view of the ventilation system along the line B-B of FIG. 6A when the coupling member is moved to or disposed in its off-position according to the present invention. In this exemplary embodiment, the first and second coupler units 310, 320 are shaped as hollow cylinders forming arcuate surfaces thereon, where an outer diameter of the first coupler unit 310 may be slightly less than an inner diameter of the second coupler unit 320 such that an outer arcuate surface of the first coupler unit 310 may match an inner arcuate surface of the second coupler unit 320. In addition, the second coupler unit 320 defines an aperture for receiving the first coupler unit 310 therein to allow movement (or rotation) of the first coupler unit 310, while orienting the first opening 312 of the first coupler unit 310 to oppose or to face the second opening 322 of the second coupler unit 320. In particular, such first and second openings 312, 322 are arranged to be in fluid communication when the coupling member 300 may be disposed in or moved to its on-position so as to define an air pathway which starts from the inlet opening 212 and terminates at the outlet opening 252 and to allow the pump member to transport the odorous air out of the toilet cavity to the exit. It is appreciated that the on-position of such coupling member 300 and/or its coupler units 310, 320 corresponds to any of those described in conjunction with FIGS. 5A to 5C. Conversely, when at least one of the coupler units 310, 320 rotates with respect to the other thereof to move the coupling member 300 to its off-position, opposing arcuate surfaces of such coupler units 310, 320 slide over each other. This movement results in a partial or total misalignment between the first and second openings 312, 322 of the coupler units 310, 320 and destroys at least a portion of the fluid connection between the first and second coupler units 310, 320. Thus, the fluid communication between the inlet and outlet units 210, 250 of the airway member 200 may be disrupted or destroyed, and the pump member 400, even though it may operate in its full capacity, may not be able to draw air from the toilet cavity 21. It is appreciated that the off-position of such coupling member 300 and/or its coupler units 310, 320 corresponds to any of those described in conjunction with FIGS. 5A to 5C.

Configurational and/or operational variations and/or modifications of the foregoing exemplary coupling members and couplers thereof which have been discussed hereinabove and which will be described heretofore also fall within the scope of this invention.

First, the coupling member may be modified or altered in various ways to facilitate formation of airtight communication with the inlet and/or outlet units of the airway member, with the channel units of the airway member, and/or between its coupler units in its on-position. For example, the coupler units may be shaped and/or sized to be movably, releasably or detachably inserted into each other, thereby forming an airtight fluid communication therebetween when the coupling member is in the on-position. The coupler units may have a tapered structure, a leak-proof structure, and/or a sealing article such as a flexible O-ring to form the airtight sealing therebetween. One or more magnets may be disposed on the coupler units to facilitate their orientation and/or formation of airtight sealing therebetween. For example, the magnets with opposite polarities may be disposed on opposing surfaces of such coupler units. When the toilet seat and/or lid may be positioned in or moved to place the coupling member in its on-position, attractive magnetic force exerted between the magnets may guide the above elongated or arcuate structures of the coupler units to align and orient themselves along a predetermined coupling direction. When the coupler units get close to each other, the attractive magnetic force couples the elongated and/or arcuate structures of the coupler units and forms airtight connection therebetween. A lock may be provided to releasably lock the coupler units to the channel units, inlet unit, and/or outlet units, while a releaser may be provided to unlock the locking unit. The coupler units may also include a flexible or retractable structure in its elongated and/or arcuate portions to allow movement, rotation or translation thereof once a proper fluid communication is formed therebetween, thereby preventing the elongated and/or arcuate portions from being subjected to an excessive mechanical stress due to excessive motion or rotation of the toilet seat and/or lid.

The coupling member may also be arranged to couple and uncouple the inlet and outlet units of the airway member when the toilet seat and/or lid may be arranged to pivot about different centers of rotation. For example, instead of pivotally connecting the toilet seat and lid to the toilet base through a single hinge, multiple hinges may be provided so that the toilet seat and lid may pivot about the hinges disposed at different locations. Since such hinges enable the toilet seat and lid to pivot about different centers of rotation, the channel units may have to rotate toward and away from each other along two different curvilinear, e.g., arcuate trajectories, or may have to rotate about different axes of rotation. This arrangement allows the coupler units to be disposed at various locations around the toilet seat or lid, while accomplishing the same function as the ones pivoting about a single center of rotation. This arrangement also enables the coupling member to be disposed in the off- and on-positions when the toilet seat and lid may be disposed at or near various flat and/or vertical positions. Furthermore, this arrangement provides more space between the toilet seat and lid, thereby allowing easier installation or incorporation of the ventilation system to the toilet.

The coupling member may also be arranged to have other configurations while performing the substantially similar functions as those described hereinabove. In one example, the coupling member may have a bellow-type structure which may bend in response to a movement of toilet seat and/or lid, coupler units, and/or upstream and downstream portions of the airway member while maintaining the fluid communication between two opposing ends of the coupling member at the same time. In another example, the coupling member may include a flexible article which is arranged to bend or to deform in response to such a movement but not to collapse substantially when the coupling member is in the on-position. In the above embodiments, such a bellow and flexible article may bend or otherwise deform in any desirable direction, e.g., bending along arcuate paths, translating horizontally or vertically, and the like. In addition, the cross-sectional areas and/or shapes of the bellow and/or flexible article may be preferably arranged to satisfy various criteria described hereinabove. When the coupling member includes multiple coupler units which can be aligned and misaligned according to the above movement to form and to disrupt the fluid communication therethrough, such couplers may further be arranged to have other configurations while performing the substantially similar or identical functions as described hereinabove. In one example, the couplers may form matching spherical surfaces so that one of such coupler units may move, rotate, and/or pivot about the other of such couplers. In another example, the coupler units with the foregoing arcuate and/or spherical surfaces may also be arranged to translate to form and disrupt the fluid communication therebetween. In any of the above embodiments, it is not critical which coupler may be movably disposed inside the other coupler. The coupling member may have other configurations as long as they can perform the foregoing functions and meet the foregoing criteria. The above embodiments may also be applied to the airway member when such a member is arranged to fluidly connect the toilet cavity and the exit for the odorous air therethrough. Accordingly, at least a portion of the airway member may be arranged to include a bellow or to bend to maintain the fluid communication therethrough while accommodating the foregoing movements.

The coupling member may also be arranged to block at least a portion of its air pathway and/or the air pathway of the airway member when the coupling member is not disposed in its on-position. In one example, a damper may be incorporated along such an air pathway to block at least a portion of its cross-section thereof. Examples of such a damper may include, but not be limited to, a valve, flap, and other conventional dampers known in the relevant art. This embodiment is advantageous to block moisture from entering the airway member when the ventilation system is not in use and/or to prevent water from entering thereinto during cleaning of the toilet.

The inlet units of the airway member may also be arranged in various embodiments as long as they meet various requirements described hereinabove. For example, FIG. 7A is a schematic diagram of an exemplary inlet unit of an airway member of a toilet ventilation system according to the present invention. An inlet unit 210 includes an inlet body 211 at least a portion of which defines multiple inlet openings 212 therealong. The inlet body 211 is generally arranged to have a shape and/or size which may conform to that of the toilet seat 50 in an extent that at least a portion of the inlet body 211 may be embedded into, fixedly coupled to, movably coupled to, and/or detachably coupled to at least a portion of the toilet seat 50. A downstream end 213 of the inlet body 211 may be shaped and sized to form an appropriate coupling with a downstream portion of the airway member such as the channel unit or outlet unit of the airway member. The inlet openings 212 may be arranged to be in fluid communication with air in the toilet cavity 21 of the toilet base 20. Although exact orientations and/or directions of the inlet openings 212 may not critically affect performance of the ventilation system, it is preferred that at least a portion of the inlet openings 212 be arranged horizontally and, more preferably, facing along a direction which may prevent the contaminated water in the toilet cavity 21 from splashing and entering the interior of the inlet openings 212 and may also block water from entering thereinto while cleaning the toilet seat 50.

It is noted that the inlet body 211 and/or inlet openings 212 may be arranged to have a variety of shapes and sizes as long as they may perform the functions described hereinabove. Accordingly, selection of dimensions, shapes, materials, and/or mechanical properties of the inlet body 211 may be generally a matter of choice of one of ordinary skill in the art. Similarly, a number, dimensions, shapes, positions, arrangements, and/or orientations of the inlet openings 212 also fall within a similar design choice of one of ordinary skill in the art. In particular, the inlet body 211 and inlet openings 212 may be arranged such that a total cross-sectional area of the inlet body 211 and/or inlet openings 212 may be greater than or at least substantially similar to that of other portions of the airway member. Such an embodiment may ensure that the inlet body 211 and/or inlet openings 212 may not constitute zones of high resistance to air flow.

It is appreciated that the inlet openings 212 may be arranged to have configurations which may optimize suction of air inside the toil t cavity 21. For example, when an user sits on the toilet seat 50, lateral sides 214 of the toilet seat 50 are generally covered by the user's buttock and do not constitute major zones of escape routes for the contaminated air inside the toilet cavity 21. Therefore, the inlet openings 212 may be preferentially provided in a front 215 and/or rear 216 thereof than the sides 214. In the alternative, the inlet openings 212 disposed in the front 215 and/or rear 216 may be arranged to have greater cross-sectional areas than those disposed at the sides 214. In another alternative, the inlet openings 212 having substantially identical shapes and cross-sectional areas may be disposed in a preset pattern along the inner body 211 and the user may be allowed to close or open the selected openings 212 of his or her choice. Such an embodiment may allow customization of the inlet unit 210 according to user's needs and based on precise geometrical characteristics of his or her toilet.

The inlet unit 210 may include one or more air guards provided in the gap formed between the toilet base 20 and seat 50 and/or between the toilet base 20 and various parts of the airway member which may be embedded into, fixedly coupled to, movably coupled to, and/or detachably coupled to the toilet seat 50. When the pump member displaces air from the toilet cavity 21, it may be necessary for external air to flow into the toilet cavity 21 through the gap 54 or through an open space between the toilet seat 50 and user's buttocks and legs. By guiding the air to flow through these additional air pathways, the odorous air inside the toilet cavity 21 may be substantially blocked to escape the toilet seat 50. For example, the air guards may be arranged to guide the external air to flow through at least a significant portion of the gap toward an interior of the toilet cavity 21 so as to force the odorous air toward and into the inlet unit 210. Alternatively, the external air may be positively pumped into or the odorous air may be recycled into the toilet cavity 21 for this purpose as well.

The inlet units of the airway member may further be arranged to adaptively vary air pathways defined therealong. For example, FIG. 7B shows a schematic diagram of another exemplary inlet unit of an airway member of another ventilation system according to the present invention, where such an inlet unit 210 is similar to that shown in FIG. 7A but embedded inside a toilet seat 50. A main feature of such an embodiment is that hydraulic resistances of inlet body 211 and/or inlet openings 212) may be adaptively adjusted such that some inlet openings may take in larger amounts of the odorous air from the toilet cavity 21 than others. In general, not all inlet openings 212 need to suck the identical amount of the odorous air. For example, because thighs and lower parts of buttocks of the user are generally disposed along lateral portions of the toilet seat 50, they may substantially block the odorous air from the toilet cavity 21 and block atmospheric air from getting into the toilet cavity 21. In contrary, most of front and rear portions of toilet seat 50 is not covered by the user's body and, accordingly, constitute majors route for the odorous air escaping from and/or atmospheric air enter the toilet cavity 21. Such spatial variation in suction requirement along inlet body 211 may also be complicated by a size, sitting habit, and/or physical characteristics of different users.

The embodiment shown in the figure incorporates the toilet seat 50 and airway member 200 at least a portion of which may be made of compliant or flexible material to vary its cross-sectional areas in response to an external force of a weight of an user exerted thereon. The left panel shown in FIG. 7B describes an exemplary toilet seat 50 which is incorporated with the inlet unit 100 of the airway member 200, while the right panels represent cross-sectional views of the toilet seat 50 drawn along lines A-A, B-B, C-C, and D-D of the left panel. When the user sits on the toilet seat 50, some portions of the toilet seat 50 may be applied with greater external forces than others, and collapse accordingly. This generally results in reduction of cross-sectional areas 55 of such portions, increases resistance to air flow, and decreases air suction therethrough. Accordingly, such an arrangement may distribute its ventilation capacity among the inlet openings 212 according to their needs and allow an attainment of optimal suction of the odorous air.

Deformation of a portion of the flexible inlet unit 210, however, may lead to complete occlusion thereof. Accordingly, only the upper portions of toilet seat 50 may be made of compliant material and the rest of the inlet unit 210 may be made of compliant materials which has a minimum rigidity enough to prevent complete occlusion thereof. In addition, because the user's weight is usually centered on the lateral portion of the toilet seat 50, such a weight distribution may result in deformation of the toilet seat 50 and at least a partial occlusion of the inlet openings 212 embedded thereat, e.g., most around the regions A-A and B-B, and least at the front and rear portions C-C and D-D. Due to the changes in cross-sectional areas adjacent to the inlet openings 212, the resistances to air flow associated with each inlet opening 212 of the air pathway 200 are adaptively adjusted in reverse relationship with the applied weight. Accordingly, the ventilation capacity of the ventilation system 100 may be adaptively adjusted according to the spatial distribution of the ventilation load.

It is appreciated that a partial occlusion of a portion of the inlet unit 210 may adversely affect the suction capacities of other portions of the inlet unit 210 disposed in its downstream. Accordingly, the inlet unit 210 may be constructed that each inlet opening 212 may be in fluid communication with a downstream end of the inlet unit 210 through different air pathways. In addition, such air pathways may be preferably constructed so that each air pathway may be arranged to be collapsible in a region adjacent to its corresponding inlet opening 212 and may not be collapsible in other regions therealong.

Configurational and/or operational variations and/or modifications of the above members and/or their units of the ventilation system of the present invention which have been discussed hereinabove and which will be described heretofore also fall within the scope of this invention.

The foregoing outlet units of the airway member may be provided in a variety of embodiments. For example, the outlet unit may be arranged to be in fluid communication with a preexisting vent of the bathroom so that the odorous air may be exhausted therethrough. When the bathroom does not have a vent, the outlet unit may extend to be in fluid communication with atmosphere by penetrating through a bathroom wall. In such embodiments, at least one damper or flap may also be disposed in the outlet opening or along the outlet unit in order to prevent humid and/or cold atmospheric air from entering the bathroom through. When the ventilation system is arranged to process the odorous air and to remove the odor-generating substances therefrom, the outlet opening of the outlet unit may be arranged to be open to the bathroom in order to recycle the processed air thereinto. The outlet unit may be coupled to various stationary or movable parts of the toilet. For example, at least a portion of the outlet unit may be embedded into, fixedly coupled to, movably coupled to, and/or detachably coupled to at least on of the toilet seat, toilet lid, toilet base, water reservoir, and so on. When desirable, the outlet unit may be similarly coupled to a bathroom wall, ceiling, floor, and the like.

As described hereinabove, the pump member may be fixedly coupled to, movably coupled to, and/or detachably coupled to various stationary and/or movable parts of the toilet or, in the alternative, similarly coupled to the bathroom wall, ceiling, and/or floor. Such a pump member may be arranged to suck the odorous air in the toilet cavity by creating a negative pressure and to transport such to the exit for the odorous air through the airway member. When desirable, the pump member or an auxiliary blower may be arranged to blow atmospheric or bathroom air into the toilet cavity, while sucking the odorous air by the pump member through the inlet openings of the inlet unit. Such an embodiment may offer the benefit of arranging the blower or pump member to direct the atmospheric or bathroom air in a direction to prevent the odorous air from escaping from the toilet cavity, thereby facilitating removal of the odorous air from the toilet cavity. The pump member may typically be disposed adjacent to the airway and/or coupling members and, therefore, close to various parts of the toilet. When desirable, the pump member may be disposed outside the bathroom in order to leave an extra space around the toilet and/or to reduce noises therefrom. When multiple toilets are arranged to be ventilated, a single pump member may also be arranged to ventilate multiple toilets through multiple airway members each of which is in fluid communication with the toilet cavity of each of such toilets. Such airway members may be arranged in parallel and/or in series as long as the pump member may effectively remove the odorous air from such toilets.

It is appreciated that the ventilation systems of the present invention may be incorporated into various toilets and/or toilet-related articles of commerce. Therefore, such ventilation systems may be retrofit to existing household and/or commercial toilets and may be incorporated into new toilets while manufacturing such. The ventilation systems or various members and/or units thereof may further be incorporated into various toilet-related articles examples of which may also include, but not be limited to, heated toilet seats, hygiene toilet seats capable of squirting cleaning water toward specific organs of the user, and the like.

It is also appreciated that the foregoing figures are illustrative only and not intended to limit the scope of the present invention and that the foregoing figures are not drawn to the scale. Therefore, various members and/or their units of the ventilation system of the present invention may be provided to have different shapes and/or sizes, and ratios of length and/or areas thereof may be different from those appeared in such figures. In addition, the figures may be construed to be the top views, bottom views, and/or side views regardless of the foregoing figure legends, unless such constructions may explicitly conflict accompanying descriptions of various members and units of the ventilation system.

As described herein, the foregoing ventilation systems of the present invention offer various benefits. First, such ventilation systems may be constructed as compact articles so that no members of such systems may have to be disposed external to the toilet, that only minimum spaces are required to install the ventilation systems to the toilet, and the like. In addition, such ventilation systems may be manufactured and/or maintained at low costs. For example, because all members of such ventilation systems may to be incorporated into various conventional parts of the toilet, there is no need to modify at least the stationary parts of the toilet or to make at least new stationary parts of the toilet and there may be no need to make holes into various parts of the toilet. Moreover, such ventilation systems may be arranged to have the least resistance to air flow while maximizing the cross-sectional areas of at least a substantial portion of the airway member. Accordingly, such an airway member will cause a minimum viscous pressure dissipation and, therefore, the pump member may need to have a minimum pumping capacity for a given amount of the odorous air to be removed from the toilet cavity. Such a pump member, therefore, may generate the least noises because of its minimum pumping requirement.

It is to be understood that, while various aspects and embodiments of the present invention have been described in conjunction with the detailed description thereof, the foregoing description is intended to illustrate and not to limit the scope of the invention, which is defined by the scope of the appended claims. Other embodiments, aspects, advantages, and modifications are within the scope of the following claims. 

1. A ventilation system for a toilet including at least one stationary part and at least on movable part, wherein said stationary part includes at least one of a toilet base and a water reservoir, wherein said movable part includes at least one of a toilet seat and a toilet lid and is configured to be movably coupled to at least a portion of said stationary part, wherein said toilet base is configured to define a toilet cavity therein, wherein said toilet seat is movably disposed over said toilet base and configured to define a center aperture therein, and wherein said ventilation system is configured to transport air from said toilet cavity to an exit, said ventilation system comprising: at least one airway member including at least one inlet unit and at least one outlet unit, wherein said inlet unit is configured to have at least one inlet opening which is in fluid communication with said toilet cavity and wherein said outlet unit is configured to define at least one outlet opening which is in fluid communication with said exit; and at least one coupling member disposed between said inlet and outlet units and configured to move between at least one on-position and at least one off-position, wherein said coupling member is configured to form a fluid communication between said inlet and outlet units in said on-position and to disrupt at least a portion of said fluid communication therebetween in said off-position.
 2. The ventilation system of claim 1 further comprising a one pump member operatively coupled to at least one of said airway and coupling members and configured to pump air through said airway and coupling members.
 3. The ventilation system of claim 1 wherein at least one portion of said airway member is one of embedded into, movably coupled to, fixedly coupled to, and detachably coupled to said toilet seat and wherein at least another portion of said airway member is one of embedded into, movably coupled to, fixedly coupled to, and detachably coupled to at least one of said toilet lid, said toilet base, and said water reservoir.
 4. The ventilation system of claim 1, wherein said coupling member is configured to move from one of said on- and off-positions to the other thereof in response to movements of at least one of said toilet seat and toilet lid.
 5. The ventilation system of claim 4, wherein said toilet seat is configured to move between a flat seat position and a non-flat seat position, wherein said toilet lid is configured to move between a flat lid position and a non-flat lid position, and wherein said coupling member configured to be in said. on-position when said toilet seat is in said flat seat position and said toilet lid is in said non-flat lid position
 6. The ventilation system of claim 5, wherein said coupling member is configured to include a first coupler unit and a second coupler unit each of which is configured to define a first air pathway and a second air pathway therein, respectively, and wherein at least one of said coupler units is configured to move toward and away from the other of said coupler units along a preset path, thereby providing a fluid communication between said coupler units in said on-position and to disrupt at least a portion of said fluid communication in said off-position.
 7. The ventilation system of claim 6, wherein said first coupler unit is configured to be movably disposed inside said second coupler unit so as to form a fluid communication therebetween in said on-position and to be detached therefrom so as to disrupt at least a portion of said fluid communication in said off-position.
 8. The ventilation system of claim 5, wherein said coupling member is configured to include a first coupler unit and a second coupler unit configured to respectively define a first opening and a second opening thereon and wherein one of said first and second coupler units is configured to be disposed onto the other thereof in order to provide a fluid communication in said on-position by aligning said first and second openings and to disrupt at least a portion of said fluid communication in said off-position by misaligning said first and second openings.
 9. The ventilation system of claim 8, wherein said first and second coupler units have thereon a first arcuate surface and a second arcuate surface, respectively, and wherein said arcuate surfaces include said openings thereon and are configured to allow angular rotation of one of said coupler units with respect to the other thereof.
 10. The ventilation system of claim 3, wherein said coupling member is configured to move from one to the other of said on- and off-positions in response to an angle formed between said toilet seat and said toilet lid.
 11. The ventilation system of claim 10, wherein said coupling member is configured to be disposed in said on-position when said angle is within a preset range and to be in said off-position when said angle is outside said preset range.
 12. The ventilation system of claim 1, wherein said airway member includes at least one air guide unit configured to introduce air thereto from said toilet cavity.
 13. The ventilation system of claim 1 further comprising at least one filter member disposed along at least one of said airway and coupling members and capable of removing odorous substance from air flowing therethrough.
 14. The ventilation system of claim 1 further comprising at least one d hydration member disposed along at least one of said airway and coupling members and capable of reducing humidity of air which flows therethrough.
 15. The ventilation system of claim 1 further comprising at least one air treatment member which is configured to be in fluid communication with at least one of said airway and coupling members, to store fragrant substance therein, and to release said fragrant substance into air flowing therethrough.
 16. The ventilation system of claim 1 further comprising a sound member which is configured to store at least one prerecorded sound and capable of playing said sound.
 17. A ventilation system for a toilet including at least one stationary part and at least one movable part, wherein said stationary part includes at least one of a toilet base and a water reservoir, wherein said movable part includes at least one of a toilet seat and a toilet lid and is configured to be movably coupled to at least a portion of said stationary part, wherein said toilet base is configured to define a toilet cavity therein, wherein said toilet seat is movably disposed over said toilet base and configured to define a center aperture therein, and wherein said ventilation system is configured to transport air from said toilet cavity to an exit, said ventilation system configured to minimize a resistance to air flow therealong and comprising: at least one airway member including at least one inlet unit and at least one outlet unit, wherein said inlet unit is configured to have at least one inlet opening which is in fluid communication with said toilet cavity and wherein said outlet unit is configured to define at least one outlet opening which is in fluid communication with said exit; and at least one pump member configured to be operatively coupled to said airway member and to pump air inside said toilet cavity from said inlet opening to said exit, wherein said airway and pump members are at least one of embedded into, movably coupled to, detachably coupled to, and fixedly coupled to at least one of said stationary and movable parts of said toilet and wherein different parts of said airway member excluding said inlet and outlet openings are configured to have similar cross-sectional areas therealong in order to minimize at least one of an expansion and a contraction of said cross-sectional areas, to minimize pressure losses thereby, and to minimize said resistance to air flow thereby.
 18. A method of transporting odorous air from a toilet by incorporating a ventilation system to said toilet including at least one stationary part and at least one movable part, wherein said stationary part has at least one of a toilet base and a water reservoir, wherein said movable part has at least one of a toilet seat and a toilet lid and is movably coupled to at least a portion of said stationary part, wherein said toilet base is configured to define a toilet cavity therein, and wherein said toilet seat is configured to be movably disposed over said toilet base, to move between its flat position and a vertical position, and to define a center aperture therein, said method comprising the steps of: providing an airway member having a first air pathway and a second air pathway; operatively coupling said airway member to a pump member which is capable of transporting air through said first and second air pathways of said airway member; incorporating said first air pathway of said airway member into said toilet seat while disposing one end of said first air pathway in fluid communication with said toilet cavity; incorporating said second air pathway of said airway member into said toilet lid while placing one end of said second portion in fluid communication with an exit of said odorous air; movably coupling said first and second air pathways of said airway member; receiving an odorous substance giving off said odorous air in said toilet cavity; starting said pump member, thereby transporting said odorous air from said toilet cavity to said exit through said first and second pathways of said airway member; and terminating said pump member when said transporting is completed.
 19. The method of claim 18 said incorporating said first air pathway comprising the steps of: embedding said first air pathway of said airway member into said toilet seat; fixedly coupling said first air pathway of said airway member to said toilet seat; movably coupling said first air pathway of said airway member to said toilet seat; and detachably coupling said first air pathway of said airway member to said toilet seat.
 20. The method of claim 18 said incorporating said second air pathway comprising the steps of: embedding said second air pathway of said airway member into said toilet lid; fixedly coupling said second air pathway of said airway member to said toilet lid; movably coupling said second air pathway of said airway member to said toilet lid; and detachably coupling said second air pathway of said airway member to said toilet lid. 